Venom
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An animal toxin intended for defensive or offensive use; a biological poison delivered by bite, sting, etc., to protect an animal or to kill its prey. countable, uncountable
"[…] There may be in the cup / A spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart, / And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge / Is not infected..."
- 2 feeling a need to see others suffer wordnet
- 3 Feeling or speech marked by spite or malice; vitriol. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"The venom of such looks, we fairly hope, / Have lost their quality, and that this day / Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love."
- 4 toxin secreted by animals; secreted by certain snakes and poisonous insects (e.g., spiders and scorpions) wordnet
- 1 To infect with venom; to envenom; to poison. obsolete, transitive
"1566, Thomas Blundeville (translator and editor), The Fower Chiefyst Offices Belongyng to Horsemanshippe, London, Chapter 36, […] washe all the filth away with warme water, and annoynte the place with Hony and Fytch flower myngled together. But beware you touche none of the kirnelles with your bare finger, for feare of venoming the place, which is very apt for a Fistula to breede in."
- 1 Poisonous, poisoned; (figuratively) pernicious. not-comparable, obsolete
"Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud? / Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows’ nests? / Or toads infect fair founts with venom mud?"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"There is no antidote for the venom of this snake."
Etymology
From Middle English venym, from Old French venim, from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, from Early Medieval Latin venīnum, from Classical Latin venēnum (“drug; poison; a charm”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to love”). Doublet of venin and venene.
Related phrases
More for "venom"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.