| English Dictionary |
POISONOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does poisonous mean?
• POISONOUS (adjective)
The adjective POISONOUS has 3 senses:
1. having the qualities or effects of a poison
2. not safe to eat
3. marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
Familiarity information: POISONOUS used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having the qualities or effects of a poison
Synonyms:
poisonous; toxicant
Similar:
toxic (of or relating to or caused by a toxin or poison)
Derivation:
poison (anything that harms or destroys)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not safe to eat
Similar:
inedible; uneatable (not suitable for food)
Derivation:
poison (any substance that causes injury or illness or death of a living organism)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
Synonyms:
Context example:
vicious gossip
Similar:
malicious (having the nature of or resulting from malice)
Derivation:
poison (anything that harms or destroys)
Context examples
A ranking of the poisonous nature of an object as determined by a laboratory test.
(Laboratory Test Toxicity Grade, NCI Thesaurus)
A silver-white, poisonous metal that is a liquid at ordinary temperatures.
(Mercury, NCI Dictionary)
Poisonous or damaging to the kidney.
(Nephrotoxic, NCI Dictionary)
A laboratory test designed to quantify or qualify the poisonous nature of a sample.
(Laboratory Test Toxicity, NCI Thesaurus)
The antitumor or antiviral immune substance carries the toxin to the tumor or infected cell where the toxin exerts its poisonous effect.
(Immunotoxin Cancer Immunotherapy, NCI Thesaurus)
To make something less poisonous or harmful.
(Detoxification, NCI Dictionary)
A very poisonous chemical substance made from tar and also found in some plants and essential oils (scented liquid taken from plants).
(Carbolic acid, NCI Dictionary)
Soon they rolled the Lion out of the poppy bed to the green fields, where he could breathe the sweet, fresh air again, instead of the poisonous scent of the flowers.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
A substance that is poisonous to nerve tissue.
(Neurotoxin, NCI Dictionary)
I will free the world of a poisonous thing.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." (Native American proverb, Cherokee)
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"He who sleeps cannot catch fish." (Corsican proverb)