poisonous
full of or containing poison: poisonous air; a poisonous substance.
harmful; destructive: poisonous to animals; poisonous rumors.
deeply malicious; malevolent: poisonous efforts.
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Origin of poisonous
1Other words from poisonous
- poi·son·ous·ly, adverb
- poi·son·ous·ness, noun
- non·poi·son·ous, adjective
- non·poi·son·ous·ly, adverb
- non·poi·son·ous·ness, noun
- sem·i·poi·son·ous, adjective
- sem·i·poi·son·ous·ly, adverb
- un·poi·son·ous, adjective
- un·poi·son·ous·ly, adverb
Words Nearby poisonous
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use poisonous in a sentence
This may help an arm quickly distinguish food from rocks or poisonous prey, Harvard University molecular biologist Nicholas Bellono and his colleagues report online October 29 in Cell.
Phthalo green, chrome yellow, cadmium red are lovely, but they come with a pernicious price—all are composed of heavy metals poisonous to humans in varying degrees.
Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Environmentalism - Issue 90: Something Green | Anastasia Bendebury & Michael Shilo DeLay | October 7, 2020 | NautilusFor most Earthly life, phosphine is poisonous because “it interferes with oxygen metabolism in a variety of macabre ways.”
Phosphine gas found in Venus’ atmosphere may be ‘a possible sign of life’ | Lisa Grossman | September 14, 2020 | Science NewsSome newts living in the western United States are poisonous.
Toxic germs on its skin make this newt deadly | Erin Garcia de Jesus | June 23, 2020 | Science News For StudentsSupertasters are literally born with a tongue that is unusually sensitive to the bitter chemicals found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, which tricks their brain into thinking that the food is poisonous.
Alcohol and sugar, even in moderate amounts, are not only sinful but poisonous.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze | Lizzie Crocker | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe stench of corruption is settling over world soccer like a poisonous fog, and players are paying the price.
They unlaced her and tried to find something poisonous in her hair, but nothing helped.
In New Brothers Grimm 'Snow White', The Prince Doesn't Save Her | The Brothers Grimm | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn Greek mythology, the Gorgon Medusa had the face of a woman and poisonous snakes for hair; her glance could turn men to stone.
Other organisms died off in large numbers because oxygen was poisonous to them.
Why Did It Take So Long For Complex Life To Evolve On Earth? Blame Oxygen. | Matthew R. Francis | November 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe island is especially favoured; it contains no poisonous or hurtful insects or reptiles.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferThat is the reason that the silliest, the meanest, the most poisonous girl can always find a husband if she is healthy.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonXetholine caniopus is a drug; not rare, not common, but violently poisonous.
She might struggle for her freedom, but she could not hope to avoid the darting, poisonous fangs of the snake.
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O | Clair BlankIt could scarcely send its poisonous fangs through her heavy boot, she reminded herself desperately.
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O | Clair Blank
British Dictionary definitions for poisonous
/ (ˈpɔɪzənəs) /
having the effects or qualities of a poison
capable of killing or inflicting injury; venomous
corruptive or malicious
Derived forms of poisonous
- poisonously, adverb
- poisonousness, 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
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