phosphine
Americannoun
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a colorless, poisonous, ill-smelling, flammable gas, PH 3 .
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any of certain organic derivatives of this compound.
noun
Etymology
Origin of phosphine
Explanation
Phosphine is a poisonous gas that has a strong, distinctively fishy smell. Exterminators sometimes use phosphine to kill pests or keep them from infesting shipments of grains. Phosphine is an effective way to kill bedbugs, rats, and other pests, but it can also be very dangerous for humans who are exposed to the toxic substance. The chemical is mainly used in industrial extermination, often to fumigate the goods on container ships, but it's also used in the semiconductor industry and is sometimes an ingredient in flame retardants. People who work with phosphine have to be careful to avoid inhaling it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Proof has been found that this chemical product was used by the hotel," the report added, indicating that there was "solid proof" that the family "died as a result of phosphine gas".
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
A research team led by University of California San Diego Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Adam Burgasser has now detected phosphine in the atmosphere of a cool, ancient brown dwarf known as Wolf 1130C.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2025
"In the metal-depleted atmosphere of Wolf 1130C, there isn't enough oxygen to take up the phosphorus, allowing phosphine to form from the abundant hydrogen."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2025
The most plausible is phosphine gas, created from the fermentation of plant matter inside the soil’s low-oxygen environment.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 16, 2024
This dye-stuff, known as “flavaniline,” is no longer made; but it is interesting as having led to the discovery of the constitution of phosphine by O. Fischer and Körner in 1884.
From Coal and What We Get from It by Meldola, Raphael
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
