poisonous
/ˈpɔɪzənəs/
poisonous adjective: containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest.
Adjective
poisonous (comparative more poisonous, superlative most poisonous)
- Containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest.
- While highly poisonous to dogs, this substance is completely harmless if ingested by humans.
- Nor taint-worm ſhall infect the yeaning herds / Nor penny-graſs, nor ſpearwort's poiſ'nous leaf.1757, John Dyer, “Book I”, in The Fleece: A Poem […] , London: R. and J. Dodsley, page 40
- Antonyms:
- nonpoisonous, unpoisonous
- Of an animal such as a snake or spider, or parts of its body: producing a toxin intended for defensive or offensive use which is usually injected into an enemy or prey by biting or stinging; hence, of a bite or sting: injecting poison.
- Poisonous snakes should only be handled by experienced professionals.
- SERPENT … either that which is not poiſonous: or that which is counted poiſonous, having two long, hollow, moveable teeth, …1668, John Wilkins, chapter V, in An Essay Towards a Real Character, And a Philosophical Language., London: Printer to the Royal Society, page 161
- Negative, harmful.
- He didn't want to end up like his grandfather, bitter and intractable, consumed in his hatred like an addict on haze — a poisonous attitude that would possess him all his remaining years.2013, Kylie Griffin, Allegiance Sworn, Penguin, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- toxic
poisonous meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
poisonous in Hindi
- containing sufficient poison to be dangerous
- विषाक्त viṣākt, ज़हरीला zahrīlā
poisonous in Tamil
- நச்சான, நஞ்சான்
poisonous in Marathi
- poisonous, toxic
- विषारी viṣārī
poisonous in Urdu
- poisonous, venomous
- زہریلا zahrīlā
More languagesFewer languages
- poisonous in Bengali
- বিষধর
- poisonous in Telugu
- విషపూరిత viṣapūrita
- poisonous in Malayalam
- വിഷകരമായ, വിഷംപുരണ്ട, വിഷമുള്ള
- poisonous in Kannada
- ನಂಜಿನ, ವಿಷದ, ನಂಜುಳ್ಳ, ವಿಷಮಯ
- poisonous in Punjabi
- ਵਿਸੂਲ਼ਾ visūḷā
- poisonous in Gujarati
- ઝેરી
- poisonous in Sanskrit
- विष viṣa
- poisonous in Nepali
- विषैला
- poisonous in Tagalog
- nakalalason
- poisonous in Arabic
- سَامّ sāmm
- poisonous in Indonesian
- beracun
Examples of poisonous in a sentence
- I had picked a mushroom so poisonous that particles of it, stuck to my fingers and accidentally swallowed, could have made me deathly ill, and a piece the size of my thumb could have killed me.2003, Charles L. Fergus, Common Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northeast, Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 77:
- The Cencoatl (o), which is alſo a poiſonous ſnake, is about five feet long, and eight inches round at the thickeſt part.1787, F.S. Clavigero, The History of Mexico, London: G. G. J. and J. Robinson, page 60:
- Evidently the first thing to ascertain is whether the case is really that of a bite by a poisonous snake…1895, Leonhard Stejneger, The Poisonous Snakes of North America, Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 475:
- The characteristics which separate the dangerously venomous groups from their non-poisonous relatives are emphasized.1963, United States. Navy Department. Naval Operations Office, Poisonous Snakes of the World, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 29:
Synonyms of poisonous
Antonyms
Forms of poisonous
| comparative | more poisonous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most poisonous |
Origin of poisonous
From Middle English poisounous, poysonouse. By surface analysis, poison + -ous.
Words formed from poisonous
Phrases with poisonous
Questions about poisonous
- What does poisonous mean?
- Poisonous means containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest.
- What is poisonous in Hindi?
- Poisonous in Hindi is विषाक्त (viṣākt), ज़हरीला (zahrīlā). See Poisonous meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use poisonous in a sentence?
- I had picked a mushroom so poisonous that particles of it, stuck to my fingers and accidentally swallowed, could have made me deathly ill, and a piece the size of my thumb could have killed me.
- What part of speech is poisonous?
- Poisonous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce poisonous?
- Poisonous is pronounced /ˈpɔɪzənəs/.
Words near poisonous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: poisonous (page history and authors); poisonous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); विषारी (Marathi) (page history and authors); زہریلا (Urdu) (page history and authors); poisonous (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); poisonous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); poisonous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); poisonous (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); poisonous (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “poisonous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poisonous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.