poison

noun poi·son \ ˈpȯi-zᵊn \

Updated on: 13 Jan 2018

Definition of poison

1 a : a substance that through its chemical action usually kills, injures, or impairs an organism

b (1) : something destructive or harmful

(2) : an object of aversion or abhorrence

2 : a substance that inhibits the activity of another substance or the course of a reaction or process

a catalyst poison

See poison defined for English-language learners

See poison defined for kids

Examples of poison in a Sentence

a jar of rat poison
The killer gave her victims food laced with poison.
suck poison from a snake bite
The villain in the play dies by drinking a vial of poison.
Poverty is a poison to society.

Recent Examples of poison from the Web

Pick your poison — cigarettes, caffeine, heroin, cocaine or even chocolate.

— jeff stibel, USA TODAY, "Here's why sleep deprivation is toxic and will eventually kill you," 22 Dec. 2017
But then again, this popcorn is going to turn your hands orange, so pick your poison carefully.

— spoon u, Teen Vogue, "Cheetos Popcorn Is Available at These Movie Theaters," 22 Dec. 2017
Essentially, penalty kills had to pick their poison and the Hawks were able to capitalize thanks in part to all the work Kane and Panarin put in at converting those one-timers.

— chris hine, chicagotribune.com, "Blackhawks Q&A;: How much do the Blackhawks miss Artemi Panarin on the power play?," 14 Dec. 2017
Should this prove to be the case, then the poison will have spread beyond a single individual to the institution as a whole.

— terry teachout, WSJ, "The Levine Cataclysm," 5 Dec. 2017
Bottles of Veuve Clicquot were on ice, but there was also a specialty Champagne cocktail, ginger margaritas, and Peroni on offer—guests needed only to pick their poison.

— maria ward, Vogue, "The Public Hotel Is Transformed Into a Terrifyingly Cool Asylum for Its First-Ever Halloween Party," 1 Nov. 2017
Publishers, writers and bloggers alike have not been slow to spot the market that the poison has created.

— The Economist, "Hard or soft?The best of a clutch of recent books on Brexit—from both sides," 19 Oct. 2017
Researchers have discovered that wood ants protect their colonies from disease by crafting a potent antibiotic made of tree resin and poison from their own bodies.

— david grimm, Science | AAAS, "Our favorite science news stories of 2017," 21 Dec. 2017
If walks at any point in time are poison, leadoff walks are creeping mortality.

— david barron, Houston Chronicle, "Walks, along with homers, helped light up scoreboard in Astros' World Series Game 5 win," 30 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'poison.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of poison

Middle English, from Anglo-French poisun drink, potion, poison, from Latin potion-, potio drink — more at potion

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

poison Synonyms

Synonyms

bane, toxic, toxin, venom

Related Words

cancer, contagion, disease, virus; fungicide, germicide, herbicide, insecticide, microbicide, pesticide, toxicant

Near Antonyms

antidote, antivenin, antivenom, mithridate; cure; cure-all, elixir, panacea

Other Chemical Engineering Terms

alkali, cation, decant, hygroscopic, isotope, oxidize, slurry, solute, viscous

poison

verb

Definition of poison

poisoned; poisoning play \ˈpȯiz-niŋ, ˈpȯi-zᵊn-iŋ\

transitive verb

1 a : to injure or kill with poison

b : to treat, taint, or impregnate with or as if with poison

2 : to exert a baneful influence on : corrupt

poisoned their minds

3 : to inhibit the activity, course, or occurrence of

on the night when he poisoned my rest
—Charles Dickens

—

poisoner

play \ˈpȯiz-nər, ˈpȯi-zᵊn-ər\ noun

See poison defined for English-language learners

Examples of poison in a Sentence

How did the murderer poison the victim?
Hundreds were poisoned from drinking the contaminated water.
He was poisoned with cyanide.
The factory poisoned the air with its fumes.
Illegal dumping of waste is poisoning the stream and killing fish.
He poisoned their minds with hatred for her.
His angry outburst poisoned the atmosphere of the party.
She was working in a hostile environment poisoned by sexist jokes.

Recent Examples of poison from the Web

Any Indian tiger outside a reserve runs a high risk of being poisoned, electrocuted or shot.

— The Economist, "A tiger’s taleWhat an Indian tiger’s bid for freedom says about humans and nature," 20 Dec. 2017
More than children being poisoned by tap water, shot by those who should have protected them, failed by schools meant to educate them, or finally receiving health care thanks to President Obama’s signature legislation.

— chelsea clitnon, Teen Vogue, "Chelsea Clinton to Her Children: "My Hopes for Your Futures Haven’t Changed"," 19 Dec. 2017
The number of teens poisoned by marijuana spiked last year in Oregon.

— lynne terry, OregonLive.com, "Oregon sees spike in teens poisoned by marijuana," 19 Dec. 2017
Only a few people in history have been poisoned by this terrifying substance, and all of them died quickly and gruesomely.

— sophie weiner, Popular Mechanics, "How Just Two Drops of Organic Mercury Can Destroy Your Brain," 15 Dec. 2017
Compare this with the tactic of secretly poisoning all the food at a restaurant.

— cyrus farivar, Ars Technica, "DOJ: Strong encryption that we don’t have access to is “unreasonable”," 9 Nov. 2017
Here are their suggestions: Decide how to pay How to pay for remediation or abatement for homes most at risk for poisoning children has been a sticking point.

— cleveland.com, "Cleveland 'lead safe' advocates recommend 3 next steps," 29 Oct. 2017
Chebukati and Akombe portrayed an electoral commission in chaos, poisoned by political interference and paralyzed by partisanship.

— robyn dixon, latimes.com, "Kenyan election official flees to U.S. in fear for her life, saying new election will not be fair," 18 Oct. 2017
Last year, the Inquirer and Daily News detailed how thousands of Philadelphia children, year after year, are newly poisoned by lead at a far higher rate than those in Flint.

— wendy ruderman, Philly.com, "Wolf: All kids should be blood tested for lead by age 2," 30 Aug. 2017

First Known Use of poison

14th century

poison Synonyms

Synonyms

blemish, darken, mar, taint, spoil, stain, tarnish, touch, vitiate

Antonyms

decontaminate, purify

Related Words

begrime, besmear, besmirch, blacken, blur, cloud, dirty, discolor, pollute, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, soil, sully, tar; abase, cheapen, debase, degrade, demean, discredit, disgrace, dishonor, foul, lower, shame, sink; bastardize, corrupt, debauch, demoralize, deprave, pervert, subvert; color, distort, twist

Near Antonyms

cleanse, purify; dignify, elevate, ennoble, enshrine, glorify, hallow, magnify, uplift

poison

adjective

Definition of poison

1 : poisonous, venomous

a poison plant

a poison tongue

2 : impregnated with poison : poisoned

a poison arrow

Examples of poison in a Sentence

the witch gave Snow White a poison apple

Recent Examples of poison from the Web

Ken said, battling through the foliage before realizing most of it was poison ivy.

— elisabeth egan, chicagotribune.com, "Algren Award finalist: "Errata" by Carol Keeley," 10 June 2017

First Known Use of poison

15th century

poison Synonyms

Synonyms

envenomed, poisonous, poisoned, toxic, venomous

Antonyms

nonpoisonous, nontoxic, nonvenomous

Related Words

contagious, infectious, infective, pathogenic, pestilent, pestilential; baneful, deleterious, harmful, hurtful, injurious, malignant, nocuous, noxious, virulent; unhealthful, unhealthy, unwholesome; calamitous, deadly, fatal, fell, lethal, murderous

Near Antonyms

beneficial, curative, healthful, healthy, helpful, palliative, remedial, salubrious, salutary, wholesome; benign, harmless, innocuous, inoffensive; nonfatal, nonlethal

POISON Defined for English Language Learners

poison

noun

Definition of poison for English Language Learners

: a substance that can cause people or animals to die or to become very sick if it gets into their bodies especially by being swallowed
: something (such as an idea, emotion, or situation) that is very harmful or unpleasant

poison

verb

Definition of poison for English Language Learners

: to cause (a person or animal) to die or to become very sick with poison
: to put a harmful or deadly substance in or on (something)
: to change (something) in a very harmful or unpleasant way

POISON Defined for Kids

poison

noun poi·son \ ˈpȯi-zᵊn \

Definition of poison for Students

: a substance that by its chemical action can injure or kill a living thing

History for poison

Both poison and potion come from the same Latin word, potio, the original meaning of which was just “a drink.” Already in Latin, however, potio could refer to a drink containing powerful substances that might heal or charm—what we call a potion. The Latin word potio became poison in Old French and began to refer to any powerful substance, whether a drink or not, that might sicken or kill when consumed. Poison and later potion both came into English from French.

poison

verb

Definition of poison for Students

poisoned; poisoning

1 : to injure or kill with poison

2 : to put poison on or in

Medical Dictionary

poison

noun poi·son \ ˈpȯiz-ᵊn \

medical Definition of poison

1 : a substance that through its chemical action usually kills, injures, or impairs an organism

2 : a substance that inhibits the activity of another substance or the course of a reaction or process

a catalyst poison

poison

transitive verb

medical Definition of poison

poisoned; poisoning play \ˈpȯiz-niŋ, -ᵊn-iŋ\

1 : to injure or kill with poison

2 : to treat, taint, or impregnate with poison

poison

adjective

medical Definition of poison

1 : poisonous

a poison plant

2 : impregnated with poison

a poison arrow

Learn More about poison

See words that rhyme with poison Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for poison Spanish Central: Translation of poison Nglish: Translation of poison for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of poison for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about poison

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up poison? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show

Oct	JAN	Apr
	13
2016	2018	2019

poison

Definition of poison

Indulge Your Inner Word Nerd

Examples of poison in a Sentence

Recent Examples of poison from the Web

Origin and Etymology of poison

poison Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

Other Chemical Engineering Terms

poison

Definition of poison

poisoner

Examples of poison in a Sentence

Recent Examples of poison from the Web

First Known Use of poison

poison Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

poison

Definition of poison

Examples of poison in a Sentence

Recent Examples of poison from the Web

First Known Use of poison

poison Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

Phrases Related to POISON

Related Phrases

POISON Defined for English Language Learners

poison

Definition of poison for English Language Learners

poison

Definition of poison for English Language Learners

POISON Defined for Kids

poison

Definition of poison for Students

History for poison

poison

Definition of poison for Students

Medical Dictionary

poison

medical Definition of poison

poison

medical Definition of poison

poison

medical Definition of poison

Learn More about poison

Seen and Heard

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games

7 Uncommonly Doubled Letters

Trending: Johnson: London Mayor a 'Popinjay'

'Crevice' and 'Crevasse': A Gap in Meaning

Winter Words Quiz

2017 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes