Toxin

//ˈtɒksɪn// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A toxic substance, specifically a poison produced by the biological processes of organisms.

    "The blue-ringed octopus Hapalochlaena lunulata has tetrodotoxin, the deadly toxin it also releases in a bite, in their ink but the concentrations and effect in inking are not known."

  2. 2
    a poisonous substance produced during the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms and some higher plant and animal species wordnet
  3. 3
    Synonym of toxicant: a toxic substance in a body requiring removal. broadly, proscribed, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms
abominationacaricideanthelminticantibioticantisepticatrocity

Example

More examples

"The toxin that causes diphtheria is produced by a normally benign bacterium when infected with a certain virus."

Etymology

From Latin toxicum, equivalent to toxi- + -in.

Related phrases

Coley's toxinShiga toxinbotulinum toxinspindle toxintime delay toxin activation

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