toxic

adjective
/ˈtɒk.sɪk/

Having a chemical nature that is harmful to health or lethal if consumed or otherwise entering into the body in sufficient quantities.

Example

“Tobacco smoke contains many toxic substances.”

Other meanings

Appearing grossly unwell; characterised by serious, potentially life-threatening compromise in the respiratory, circulatory or other body systems.
“The child appeared toxic on arrival at the hospital.”
Severely negative or harmful.
“a toxic environment that promoted bullying”

Related words

acarotoxic
detoxicate
pulmonotoxic
adrenotoxic
aerotoxic
agrotoxic
angiotoxic
antitoxic
atoxic
autotoxic
bacteriotoxic
biotoxic

Example sentences

“They surrendered to their most toxic fans.”
Tatoeba · Miktsoanit · CC0
“Pollution had turned the rivers into toxic waste.”
Tatoeba · Igider · CC0

Word history

From Ancient Greek "τοξικόν".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “toxic” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.