poison pill

[poi-zuhn pil]

noun

1. Also called suicide pill. a pellet or capsule of a quick-acting poison, as cyanide, for a spy to ingest when faced with capture or torture.

2. Financial Slang.,  any of various business devices created to prevent a company from being taken over by another, as issuing a new class of stock or stock warrants that would become costly to the buyer in the event of a takeover.

poison pill

noun

1. finance a tactic used by a company fearing an unwelcome takeover bid, in which the value of the company is automatically reduced, as by the sale of an issue of shares having an option unfavourable to the bidders, if the bid is successful

Word History and Origins

Origin of poison pill¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

But for both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas, the deal could be the poison pill that spells their downfall.

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Soon after, we see him shrewdly float terms tainted with a racist poison pill designed to split his employees’ unity and weaken future negotiations.

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The move — a political tactic sometimes referred to as a “poison pill” — would have invalidated the entire spending plan had the Senate bill not been approved, allowing Newsom to advance his priority of accelerating development.

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"He promised to secure our borders and unleash American energy dominance, and the One Big Beautiful Bill delivers. The AI regulation moratorium is a poison pill and has no place in this legislation."

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Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Moscow, calls this a "poison pill" introduced by Russia: Creating conditions Kyiv could never agree to in order to shift blame onto Ukraine in Trump's eyes.

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