ptomaine
UK/ˈtəʊmeɪn//ˈtoʊmeɪn/
ptomaine noun: any of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria.
Noun
ptomaine (countable and uncountable, plural ptomaines)
- Any of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria.
- On 6 February 2001 the Yaremche Environmental Health Inspectorate (санітарно-епідеміологічна станція) concluded that the cemetery should not have been constructed on the VL [Vorokhtya Lisokombinat] plot in view of its proximity to residential buildings and the risk of contamination of the...2014 April 9, European Court of Human Rights, Dzemyuk v. Ukraine, number 42488/02, marginal 10
- Synonyms:
- cadaveric alkaloid
- Food poisoning.
- Elinor said: "One used to be rather afraid of eating fish pastes. There have been cases of ptomaine poisoning from them, haven't there?"1940, Agatha Christie, Sad Cypress: A Poirot Mystery, page 92
- You remember Leonard Skinner. He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.1963, Allan Sherman, ‘’Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)
ptomaine meaning in Tamil, Tagalog and Indonesian
ptomaine in Tamil
- குறிப்பிடப்படாநச்சு
ptomaine in Tagalog
- any of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria
- tomayna
ptomaine in Indonesian
- any of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria
- ptomaina
Examples of ptomaine in a sentence
- If only a person is willing to risk polio from the pool, gangrene from the footbath, ptomaine from the hot dogs, and elephantiasis from the soap and the towels, he might possibly get laid.1969, Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint, New York: Vintage, published 1994, page 165:
- Sandwiches arrived from outside, strange granular bread, the butter on it liquid, some sort of beige meat paste that hinted at ptomaine.1989, Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye:
Synonyms of ptomaine
Forms of ptomaine
| plural | ptomaines |
|---|---|
| alternative form | ptomain |
| alternative form | ptomaïne |
Origin of ptomaine
From French ptomaïne, from Italian ptomaina, from Ancient Greek πτῶμα (ptôma, “corpse”).
Words formed from ptomaine
Words that rhyme with ptomaine
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
Questions about ptomaine
- What does ptomaine mean?
- Ptomaine means any of various amines formed by putrefactive bacteria.
- What is ptomaine in Tamil?
- Ptomaine in Tamil is குறிப்பிடப்படாநச்சு. See Ptomaine meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use ptomaine in a sentence?
- If only a person is willing to risk polio from the pool, gangrene from the footbath, ptomaine from the hot dogs, and elephantiasis from the soap and the towels, he might possibly get laid.
- What part of speech is ptomaine?
- Ptomaine is a noun.
- How do you pronounce ptomaine?
- Ptomaine is pronounced /ˈtəʊmeɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ptomaine?
- The plural of ptomaine is ptomaines.
Words near ptomaine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ptomaine (page history and authors); ptomaine (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ptomaine.wav.
Cite this entry: “ptomaine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ptomaine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.