Curare

//kjʊˈɹɑː.ɹi// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A plant, Strychnos toxifera, formerly used in arrow poisons in South America due to its D-tubocurarine content. uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    a toxic alkaloid found in certain tropical South American trees that is a powerful relaxant for striated muscles wordnet
  3. 3
    Other South American plants with similar toxins that were also used in arrow poisons, mostly in the family Menispermaceae. uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    A substance containing the alkaloid D-tubocurarine, used historically as a muscle relaxant during surgery. uncountable, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms
tubocurarinetubocurarine

Etymology

From a Cariban language; compare Kari'na urari, Trió urari, wïrari, Akawaio urari, Pemon urari, Macushi urari, referring to various vines of genus Strychnos.

Related phrases

arrow poisonmuscle relaxant

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.