Word.ws English Dictionary

strychnine

/ˈstɹɪk.niːn/US/ˈstrɪkˌnaɪn/

strychnine noun: a very toxic, colorless crystalline alkaloid, derived from nux vomica, used as a pesticide.

strychnine: a very toxic, colorless crystalline alkaloid, derived from nux vomica, used as a pesticide
Image: Vaccinationist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

strychnine (usually uncountable, plural strychnines)

  1. (usually) A very toxic, colorless crystalline alkaloid, derived from nux vomica, used as a pesticide.
    • Only don’t say I didn’t warn you if he burns Green Gables down or puts strychnine in the well—I heard of a case over in New Brunswick where an orphan asylum child did that and the whole family died in fearful agonies.1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
    • […] strychnine is a fairly rapid drug in its action. The symptoms appear from one to two hours after it has been swallowed.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles

strychnine meaning in Tamil

strychnine in Tamil

எட்டி, எட்டிக்காய்

Forms of strychnine

pluralstrychnines

Origin of strychnine

From French strychnine, from Greek στρύχνος (strýchnos, “sleepy nightshade”) (or directly from Ancient Greek στρύχνον (strúkhnon)) + -ine.

Words formed from strychnine

Phrases with strychnine

Questions about strychnine

What does strychnine mean?
Strychnine means a very toxic, colorless crystalline alkaloid, derived from nux vomica, used as a pesticide.
What is strychnine in Tamil?
Strychnine in Tamil is எட்டி, எட்டிக்காய். See Strychnine meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is strychnine?
Strychnine is a noun.
How do you pronounce strychnine?
Strychnine is pronounced /ˈstɹɪk.niːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of strychnine?
The plural of strychnine is strychnines.

Words near strychnine in the dictionary

  1. strychnias
  2. strychnic
  3. strychnic acid
  4. strychnic acids
  5. strychnin
  6. strychnine
  7. strychnine hydrochloride
  8. strychnine hydrochlorides
  9. strychnine tree
  10. strychnine trees
  11. strychnines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strychnine (page history and authors); strychnine (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-strychnine.wav.

Cite this entry: “strychnine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/strychnine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.