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toxic

[tok-sik]

adjective

of, pertaining to, affected with, or caused by a toxin or poison: a toxic condition.

acting as or having the effect of a poison; poisonous: a toxic drug.

pertaining to or noting debt that will probably not be repaid: toxic mortgages.

pertaining to or noting a financial instrument or other asset that has no value or an unknown value because there is no market for it: toxic mortgage-backed securities.

noun

a toxic chemical or other substance.

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Toxic is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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Origin:
1655–65; < Late Latin toxicus poisonous, adj. derivative of Latin toxicum poison < Greek toxikón (orig. short for toxikòn phármakon literally, bow poison, i.e., poison used on arrows), equivalent to tóx(on) bow + -ikon, neuter of -ikos -ic

Related forms

tox·i·cal·ly, adverb

hy·per·tox·ic, adjective

non·tox·ic, adjective

non·tox·i·cal·ly, adverb

post·tox·ic, adjective

EXPAND

un·tox·ic, adjective

un·tox·i·cal·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: toxic, toxin.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To toxic

Example Sentences

Such pits are often used to store toxic drilling waste.

Green chemistry focuses on eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in chemistry without stifling scientific progress.

Gymnodinium breve leaves toxic residues in shellfish.

EXPAND

Such pits are often used to store toxic drilling waste.

Green chemistry focuses on eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in chemistry without stifling scientific progress.

Gymnodinium breve leaves toxic residues in shellfish.

My levels were so low they were undetectable-a rare moment of relief in my toxic odyssey.

Where toxic pollution and human habitation collide with devastating effects.

When the snake eats a toxic toad, it sequesters the toxin in bulging glands in the back of its neck.

Following is a lists of indoor plants known to be toxic to dogs.

Protesters at a medical-waste incinerator say toxic air emissions can be avoided by using existing technologies.

Toxic synovitis occurs in children before puberty begins.

And it's not a health issue either, contrary to unfounded fears that human ashes are toxic.

There should be regulations protecting people from toxic bosses.

Bernays and her colleagues showed that infected woolly bears eat more toxic alkaloids than their non-infected peers.

Longo says, the therapy-three times that considered to be a high human dose-also did not appear to have any toxic side effects.

Linalool is toxic to some types of insects, though it isn't known to have any repellent qualities.

Common garden pesticides that are highly toxic to bees include both organic and conventional chemical controls.

Mother nature can make drugs and other complicated molecules without using any toxic chemicals.

Scientists have begun to use the tools of biotechnology to create microorganisms that decompose toxic wastes.

Small, preliminary trials of this sort are intended to find out whether a drug is toxic.

To fund it, legislators levied a tax on chemical and petroleum industries to finance cleanup of toxic dumps nationwide.

Harmless levels of chemicals prove toxic together.

We put out ant traps, tiny toxic motels set along their trails.

They also act as carriers for toxic or carcinogenic materials.

He also replaced the toxic ammonia that had been the original cooling agent.

Toxic nodular goiter involves an enlarged thyroid gland that contains a small rounded growth or growths called nodules.

Humans can also receive a painful sting from these toxic tentacles, even those belonging to beached or dead jellyfish.

Toxic household items also pose a danger to the environment.

And toxic fumes aren't the only significant challenge faced by cooks in the developing world.

It is toxic enough to kill you, so don't ingest any part of the plant.

The incredibly toxic venom of the geographic cone snail has to be strong enough to paralyze instantly.

Use untreated lumber and avoid cedar, which is toxic to insects.

He sipped tea made from the toxic sap of the urushi tree, used to make lacquer.

We're concerned about using paint that might be toxic or give off fumes.

It's also not good to eat the leaves, they contain toxic amounts of oxalic acid.

We've lost two tenure track faculty this year due to the toxic environment that has existed since their arrival three years ago.

But releasing toxic heavy metals into the sea is frowned upon these days.

Toxic venoms produced by cone snails are yielding potent new drugs to treat chronic pain, epilepsy, and other ailments.

Tons of coal ash are recycled in soil, raising questions about a buildup of arsenic and other toxic substances in food crops.

Fragranced fabric softener is full of toxic cleaners.

The consequence is that these toxic materials they produce could become more prevalent in the system.

Others want to get away from toxic politics in their current departments.

Some shrews and other insectivores have toxic saliva.

Click on the dots for a tour of its toxic components.

These nano-sized sensors would float around the bloodstream until they ran into some toxic chemical or disease-causing germ.

At many university libraries, the toxic economy has eaten away at staffing levels and at collections-and-acquisitions budgets.

It is also a substance hitherto regarded as too toxic for people to tolerate.

As plastic decomposes, it releases toxic chemicals that can harm ocean life-and possibly us-a new study says.

Fungi hunters and hikers beware, here are seven super toxic mushrooms to avoid.

The second is declining water quality, caused by toxic materials and fertilizers that run off the land.

Researchers have thought that the disease-causing prions slowly build up to toxic levels that spell the death of brain cells.

Most of the toxic wastes have been cleared and levels of carcinogens appear to have returned to normal.

Newly evolved earthworms found at old mining sites eat toxic waste and could help cleanse polluted industrial land.

It is highly toxic to insects, including beneficial ones such as bees.

The natural process of radioactive decay has already removed some toxic particles from the environment.

At the moment excess gunk runs off into rivers, gathers in lakes and produces toxic blooms of algae.

Toxic nudibranchs-soft, seagoing slugs-produce a brilliant defense.

Kono avoids using toxic chemicals that would run off into her pond and into a small stream that flows to a nearby salmon creek.

Experts believe when heated in a factory setting, diacetyl produces a toxic and potentially lethal gas.

What goes in car radiators is ethylene glycol, which is toxic.

Macaws eat seeds containing alkaloids, a group of chemicals that has some notoriously toxic members, such as strychnine.

You're more likely to die from exposure to toxic pollutants in plane exhaust than in a plane crash, a new study says.

Gadget churn creates toxic e-waste but recycling may help.

Aleroza, chair of a fisherman's group worried about toxic algae and red tides.

Some people get upset when wealthy countries export their toxic waste to poor countries.

Although the extraction process in each location differs, they share a need for highly toxic chemicals.

The hope is to replace the costly, toxic electrodes currently used in lithium-ion batteries.

For the first time, toxic screening is underway for thousands of chemicals in daily.

Mobile phones contain a long list of toxic substances.

Departments can develop cynical, negative cultures that are downright toxic.

The by-election was triggered by an outbreak of toxic local politics.

Longevity of cells could be linked to levels of cellular pumps that get rid of toxic cell products.

Better yet, because it doesn't use any toxic chemicals it won't put you, your pets or the environment at risk.

Good luck to those of you who need/want an out from a toxic culture.

Inevitably companies have claimed to offer products that are more effective and less toxic.

The disease, in which toxic plaques form and interfere.

Now, farmers use high doses of the toxic pesticides carbofuran and.

In my case, you see, it's more than one person that created a toxic place for me.

Bags that wind up at sea can absorb toxic chemicals, making them even more harmful to the wildlife around them.

Biologists believe that one reason may be the toxic soup of man-made.

Toxic strains of a common gut microbe are multiplying.

At ground level, however, one can pick out single threads from this global toxic tapestry and follow them back to their source.

Smog--a toxic brew of chemicals and molecules such as ozone--seems to exacerbate.

Other researchers suggest the crustacean could use the bacteria to combat toxic fluids that rise from the volcanic vents.

Investigators cannot feed toxic compounds to people to see what.

Certain microbes are used to separate toxic metals from contaminated water and soil.

The sick and the dead crocodiles have hardened yellow fat deposits, indicating a possible stress response to a toxic substance.

Landfills are piling up with electronic waste, full of toxic substances.

For the first time, toxic screening is underway for thousands of chemicals in daily use.

In more recent times, shipyards have typically painted hulls with toxic paints.

These are the things that create the toxic waste that is not only killing animals, but is killing people.

Many of these batteries contain mercury and cadmium, which are toxic to humans and the environment and require proper disposal.

So today's disperpersants are less toxic than dispersants used in the past.

But the sheer number of them is turning their watery paradise into a toxic quagmire.

There are few examples of corporate welfare that so blindly ignore the effects of a toxic material.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

toxic (ˈtɒksɪk)

—*adj*
1.	of, relating to, or caused by a toxin or poison; poisonous
2.	harmful or deadly
3.	(of a financial asset) likely to cause significant loss to the holder

[C17: from medical Latin toxicus, from Latin toxicum poison, from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) (poison) used on arrows, from toxon arrow]

'toxically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

toxic

1664, from Fr. toxique, from L.L. toxicus "poisoned," from L. toxicum "poison," from Gk. toxikon (pharmakon) "(poison) for use on arrows," from toxikon, neut. of toxikos "pertaining to arrows or archery," and thus to a bow, from toxon "bow," probably from a Scythain word that also was borrowed into L.

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as taxus "yew."

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

toxic tox·ic (tŏk'sĭk)
adj.