Rotenone

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A toxic crystalline substance obtained from the roots of derris and related plants, widely used as an insecticide. countable, uncountable

    "The cryophilic phenotype of the atu mutant was alleviated to some extent by administering rotenone, a pharmacological inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation, but not tolbutamide, a sulphonylurea that stimulates metabolic rate by raising the lymphatic concentration of glucose."

  2. 2
    a white crystalline insecticide that has low toxicity for mammals; is used in home gardens; extracted from the roots of derris and cube wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
nicoulinenicouline

Example

More examples

"The cryophilic phenotype of the atu mutant was alleviated to some extent by administering rotenone, a pharmacological inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation, but not tolbutamide, a sulphonylurea that stimulates metabolic rate by raising the lymphatic concentration of glucose."

Etymology

From Japanese ローテン (rōten) + -one (“ketone”), from Hokkien 蘆藤 /芦藤 (lôo-tîn, “Derris elliptica”).

Related phrases

rotenonic acid

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