How to use poisonous in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Poisonous means containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest. Example: “While highly poisonous to dogs, this substance is completely harmless if ingested by humans.”

Examples of poisonous by meaning

adjectiveContaining sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest.

While highly poisonous to dogs, this substance is completely harmless if ingested by humans.
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

adjectiveOf an animal such as a snake or spider, or parts of its body: producing a toxin intended for defensive or offensive use...

Poisonous snakes should only be handled by experienced professionals.
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
These antivenins make living near poisonous spiders much safer.2002, B. Kalman and K. Smithyman, The Life Cycle of a Spider, Crabtree Publishing Company, page 31

adjectiveNegative, 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

More sentences with poisonous

Sugar of lead (lead acetate) is a poisonous white crystalline substance with a sweet taste.From the entry sugar
Some mushrooms are edible whereas others are poisonous, and sometimes they are difficult to tell apart.From the entry mushroom
This snake looks nearly the same as its poisonous cousin but is harmless.From the entry harmless
But the recipe also called for hemlock and belladonna, both known to be highly poisonous.2018, The World of Lore, Volume 3, The World of Lore, Volume 3. From the entry dwale
They might look pretty, but many houseplants are poisonous to your doggos and cattos.2018 September 13, Juliette Steen, “10 common plants that are poisonous to dogs and cats”, in ABC, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2021. From the entry catto
Locals call it the pez diablo, or devil fish, and long assumed it was poisonous.[2018 July 2, Tara Duggan, “Bay Area men’s plan to market invasive fish from Mexico hits snag in U.S.”, in San Francisco Chronicle…. From the entry devilfish
Though not poisonous, this mildly psychoactive mushroom has valuable medicinal properties.2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Amanita jatanum, Elaaden. From the entry medicinal
"Macajuels ain't poisonous." She glanced over his shoulder into the distance.2015, Sabrina Ramnanan, Nothing Like Love, →ISBN, page 246. From the entry macajuel
Under-craft, witchcraft, call it what you will, but it is indeed poisonous.2008, John Dickinson, The Fatal Child. From the entry undercraft
You tried to push your poisonous myth and got told off?2007 January 20, Michelle Malkin, “Re: Filtering out the trolls and dirty minded posters is a good idea, that way only the intelligent are…. From the entry bubula
Very likely it is the case that they find humanflesh unpalatable, or indigestible, or downright poisonous.1999 summer, Robert Silverberg, “Travelers”, in The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, volume 9 (The Millennium Express: 1995-2009)…. From the entry humanflesh
Now all of this was going to be flooded, drenched in poisonous ichor.1993, Will Self, My Idea of Fun. From the entry groyne
A buzzcut DA with the left back half kapok yellow and the right half a poisonous green.1991, Rudy Rucker, Transreal!, WCS Books, page 396. From the entry dyejob
Poisonous residues carelessly treated today can produce calamities miles away and decades later.1986, Benjamin Walter, Malcolm Getz, “Social and Economic Effects of Toxic Waste Disposal”, in Sheldon Kamieniecki, Robert O’Brien…. From the entry dioxin
American Indians apparently were aware of the poisonous properties of the zigadenes.1986, Thomas C. Fuller et al., Poisonous Plants of California, page 291. From the entry zigadene
The factory where she worked was a poisonous mass of incompetence, favoritism, and sabotage.1974, Ursula Leguin, The Dispossessed. From the entry incompetence
Others, having no grain, made nauseating, poisonous concoctions of weeds, treebark, and even clay and manure.1971, Harold Henry Fisher, The famine in Soviet Russia, 1919-1923. From the entry treebark
Each nematocyst is filled with a poisonous fluid called hypnotoxin.2019, 26 Years' Chapterwise Solved Papers AIIMS Specialist Biology, page 29. From the entry hypnotoxin
Detached from Scotland, the England over which it aims to preside, never-endingly, will be a poisonous, inward-looking and mean-spirited place.2015 May 3, Will Hutton, “Conservatism has gone rogue and lost touch with the rest of us”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media…. From the entry never-endingly
The kool-aid looks sweet but it is bitter and poisonous.2012, Melissa White, You Have To Know! A Book of Self-Awareness, →ISBN, pages 41–42. From the entry kool-aid
It is unflammable, not poisonous, uncharged, and relatively unexpensive.2011, Bo Ersson, Lars Rydén, Jan-Christer Janson, “Introduction to Protein Purification”, in Protein Purification: Principles, High…. From the entry unflammable
Etoposide came from the fruit of the poisonous mayapple.2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies, Fourth Estate (2011), page 206. From the entry etoposide
Some plants are poisonous, and an inexperienced individual may make mistakes in identification of wild plants, with tragic results.2007 November 19, Ping-chung Leung, Harry H S Fong, Alternative Treatment For Cancer, World Scientific, →ISBN, page 205. From the entry plant
The capsule is full of a poisonous fluid, the hypnotoxin which contains proteins and about 75% as virulent as cobra venom.2005, Dev Raj Khanna, P. R. Yadav, Biology of Coelenterata, page 203. From the entry hypnotoxin
Poisonous, it causes nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.2003, Charles L. Fergus, Common Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northeast, page 25. From the entry sulphur tuft
Those possessed by the spirit in Kitombo were said to be able to eat poisonous berries and treesap.1975, J. Forbes Munro, Colonial Rule and the Kamba: Social Change in the Kenya Highlands, 1889–1939, →ISBN, page 112. From the entry treesap
They are neither lovable nor loving because they are innately poisonous or repulsive, like a pit adder or a skunk.1974, Edgar Berman, The politician primeval: from the amoeba to the White House. From the entry pit adder
Orange sneezeweed, also called Hoopes sneezeweed, western sneezeweed, owlsclaws, sunflower, and yellowweed, is a perennial plant poisonous to livestock.1940, Forest Service, Wool growers, range owners, range administrators should work together to stop sheep losses from poisonous orange…. From the entry yellowweed
The sesban belongs to the pulse family which contains a number of poisonous plants like the lupine, rattle-box loco weed, etc.1919, Veterinary Medicine, volume 14, page 246. From the entry sesban
And ancient soporifics—such as poisonous leaves and various opiate concoctions—were roughly as likely to kill you as they were to induce REM.2022 January 27, Derek Thompson, “Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America’s Insomnia?”, in The Atlantic. From the entry soporific
The mukonde (candelabra tree) was a four-sided cactus like plant with a poisonous white sap, although a rhino had no problems chewing the fresh shoots.2019, Dr. Ross Gordon Cooper, Crocodile Creek tree house, page 11. From the entry candelabra tree
India has a healthy share of poisonous snakes, including kraits, cobras, and two species of vipers, yet Hindu traditions are overwhelmingly snake-friendly.2011, Lisa Kemmerer, Animals and World Religions, page 71. From the entry krait
It is filled with ghosts, trolls, evil wizards and witches, pirates living in the murky waters, and terrible traps and poisonous creepy crawlers everywhere.2009, Grace Templeton, Katherine's Quest, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN. From the entry creepy crawler
Stand back as we attempt to capture and charm the most poisonous lead on your desk — the diamondback Number 2 pencil!2002, Irv Furman, Amazing Irv's Handbook of Everyday Magic, page 78. From the entry number 2 pencil

Meaning of poisonous

adjective Containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest.
adjective 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.
adjective Negative, harmful.

Full definition of poisonous

Questions about poisonous in a sentence

How do you use poisonous in a sentence?: Poisonous is used as an adjective. For example: “While highly poisonous to dogs, this substance is completely harmless if ingested by humans.”
What is a short sentence with poisonous?: “Poisonous, it causes nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.”
What does poisonous mean?: Poisonous means containing sufficient poison to be dangerous to touch or ingest.

Adapted from Wiktionary: poisonous (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use poisonous in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/poisonous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.