poison
a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health.
something harmful or pernicious, as to happiness or well-being: the poison of slander.
Slang. any variety of alcoholic liquor: Name your poison!
to administer poison to (a person or animal).
to kill or injure with or as if with poison.
to put poison into or upon; saturate with poison: to poison food.
to ruin, vitiate, or corrupt: Hatred had poisoned his mind.
Chemistry. to destroy or diminish the activity of (a catalyst or enzyme).
causing poisoning; poisonous: a poison shrub.
Origin of poison
1synonym study For poison
Other words for poison
Other words from poison
- poi·son·er, noun
- poi·son·less, adjective
- poi·son·less·ness, noun
- outpoison, verb (used with object)
- self-poi·son·er, noun
- un·poi·soned, adjective
Words Nearby poison
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use poison in a sentence
Give him an insoluble problem and he’ll toss you a new way it can be decomposed, poisoned, or healed by a fungus.
The Fungal Evangelist Who Would Save the Bees - Issue 90: Something Green | Merlin Sheldrake | September 23, 2020 | NautilusInhaling toxic vapors after a spill can poison marine mammals.
Whale blowholes don’t keep out seawater | Rasha Aridi | September 22, 2020 | Science News For StudentsAny research that offers new ways to manage pests without poisons is very exciting, says Arianne Cease.
A single chemical may draw lonely locusts into a hungry swarm | Jonathan Lambert | September 7, 2020 | Science News For StudentsMansoor, who had already been targeted by surveillance for many years, was suspicious and didn’t click the poisoned link.
The man who built a spyware empire says it’s time to come out of the shadows | Bobbie Johnson | August 19, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThat makes it harder to conclude precisely where the newts’ poison comes from, Hanifin argues.
Toxic germs on its skin make this newt deadly | Erin Garcia de Jesus | June 23, 2020 | Science News For Students
Leapolitan responded by saying, “hopefully youll [sic] bite into a poison apple.”
And some members of the Lizard Squad are now claiming that they were never trying to poison the network.
Infernal, it can cause fires and explosions; toxic, it can debilitate, poison, and kill.
Then came the horrors of World War I, with the advent of tanks and airplanes and poison gas.
“Either you poison yourselves or you take this which shoots,” the boss says.
Days of Mafia Mayhem Are Wracking Italy Once Again | Barbie Latza Nadeau | November 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe tobacco plant, as is well known, produces a virulent poison known as Nicotine.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.They affirmed it was an antidote to all poison; that it expelled rheums, sour humours, and obstructions of all kinds.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.He lived in a perpetual fear and danger of discovery; and discovery now was but another name, for poison—prison—death.
He carries a bamboo basket in which he has put a mixture containing a curious kind of poison.
Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin | Mary Hazelton WadeStrange perhaps to say, the suggestion of the old dowager, like instilled poison, was making its way into her very veins.
Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood
British Dictionary definitions for poison
/ (ˈpɔɪzən) /
any substance that can impair function, cause structural damage, or otherwise injure the body: Related adjective: toxic
something that destroys, corrupts, etc: the poison of fascism
a substance that retards a chemical reaction or destroys or inhibits the activity of a catalyst
a substance that absorbs neutrons in a nuclear reactor and thus slows down the reaction. It may be added deliberately or formed during fission
what's your poison? informal what would you like to drink?
to give poison to (a person or animal) esp with intent to kill
to add poison to
to taint or infect with or as if with poison
(foll by against) to turn (a person's mind) against: he poisoned her mind against me
to retard or stop (a chemical or nuclear reaction) by the action of a poison
to inhibit or destroy (the activity of a catalyst) by the action of a poison
Origin of poison
1Derived forms of poison
- poisoner, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with poison
In addition to the idiom beginning with poison
, also see
- one man's meat is another man's poison
.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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