poisonous
Americanadjective
-
full of or containing poison.
poisonous air; a poisonous substance.
-
harmful; destructive.
poisonous to animals; poisonous rumors.
-
deeply malicious; malevolent.
poisonous efforts.
adjective
-
having the effects or qualities of a poison
-
capable of killing or inflicting injury; venomous
-
corruptive or malicious
Other Word Forms
- nonpoisonous adjective
- nonpoisonously adverb
- nonpoisonousness noun
- poisonously adverb
- poisonousness noun
- semipoisonous adjective
- semipoisonously adverb
- unpoisonous adjective
- unpoisonously adverb
Etymology
Origin of poisonous
Compare meaning
How does poisonous compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
Once “destined for great things,” Lila makes a poisonous marriage that she eventually escapes by leaving to work in a factory.
It’s a deceptively saccharine world, one that she sees as, in her words, a “poisonous lollipop.”
From Los Angeles Times
There’s no silver bullet for finding out whether a wild mushroom is poisonous unless you know what species it is, said Rudy Diaz, president of the Los Angeles Mycological Society.
From Los Angeles Times
Perhaps, but it also gave an immediacy bordering on desperation to a story of teenage identity, poisonous social media and murder.
Ama takes one of the petals of the poisonous flowers and starts an Adinkra symbol—like two number threes, turned away from each other and held together by a long line.
From Literature
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.
