as in poisonous
containing or contaminated with a substance capable of injuring or killing a living thing
leaving poisoned food to try to kill the roaches
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in tainted
to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable
poisoning the minds of impressionable children with ethnic hatred
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in polluted
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable
exhaust fumes poisoning the air
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in degraded
to lower in character, dignity, or quality
this party partisanship poisons the national debate we should be having about this urgent problem
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in turned
to cause to have often negative opinions formed without sufficient knowledge
malicious rumors had poisoned many church members against the new pastor
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of poisoned
Anna Chernova, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025
At the end of Season 2, Broadway thespian Ben Glenroy was poisoned by stage producer Donna DiMeo — then revived just long enough for her son, Cliff, to shove him down an elevator shaft in Season 3.
—Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 16 Sep. 2025
At the beginning of the week, a security firm discovered that hackers had poisoned 18 npm packages, tools used by developers to streamline software development, with malware.
—Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
As part of her ruling, Kreuziger barred McQueen, 59, from saying Lawrence Kenyon poisoned or attempted to poison her while they were married.
—Evan Mealins, The Tennessean, 10 Sep. 2025
When she was eventually released, Lee and a small group of her followers made the journey to America to spread their gospel, believing the people of Manchester to be poisoned by the teachings of the Church of England.
—Barry Levitt, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
This person controlled the deceased, poisoned her mind against her own children and leeched off her financially.
—Judith Martin, Mercury News, 10 Sep. 2025
The patients allegedly poisoned were between the ages of 4 and 89, according to Le Monde.
—Becca Longmire, People.com, 8 Sep. 2025
An expert in metals and environmental toxins believed Ernst was poisoned on May 14 or 15, according to the charges.
—Trent Abrego, Twin Cities, 6 Sep. 2025
Verb
Laboratory tests of smuggled samples taken from late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny show that he was poisoned when he was imprisoned in a Siberian penal colony, his widow Yulia Navalnaya has said.
—Anna Chernova, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025
At the end of Season 2, Broadway thespian Ben Glenroy was poisoned by stage producer Donna DiMeo — then revived just long enough for her son, Cliff, to shove him down an elevator shaft in Season 3.
—Ryan Schwartz, TVLine, 16 Sep. 2025
At the beginning of the week, a security firm discovered that hackers had poisoned 18 npm packages, tools used by developers to streamline software development, with malware.
—Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 12 Sep. 2025
As part of her ruling, Kreuziger barred McQueen, 59, from saying Lawrence Kenyon poisoned or attempted to poison her while they were married.
—Evan Mealins, The Tennessean, 10 Sep. 2025
When she was eventually released, Lee and a small group of her followers made the journey to America to spread their gospel, believing the people of Manchester to be poisoned by the teachings of the Church of England.
—Barry Levitt, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
This person controlled the deceased, poisoned her mind against her own children and leeched off her financially.
—Judith Martin, Mercury News, 10 Sep. 2025
The patients allegedly poisoned were between the ages of 4 and 89, according to Le Monde.
—Becca Longmire, People.com, 8 Sep. 2025
An expert in metals and environmental toxins believed Ernst was poisoned on May 14 or 15, according to the charges.
—Trent Abrego, Twin Cities, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poisoned
Adjective
-
Leninism, with its Bolshevik contempt for religion and family; Frantz Fanon's poisonous doctrine that violence is not only justified but the very path to human dignity; and Islamism's contempt for the West.—
Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 Sep. 2025
-
The same is true at mining sites that supply the minerals essential for AI hardware, where the extraction and refining are poisonous for the local environment, writes environmental studies and public policy scholar Sophia Kalantzakos.—
Michaela Rychetska,
JSTOR Daily,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
King Charles’ brother, Prince Andrew, has been tainted by his own friendship with Epstein.—
Dan Mangan,
CNBC,
17 Sep. 2025
-
Just as social media makes legacy media apparatus look sluggish by comparison, prediction markets expose traditional polls and surveys for being tainted by bias (see the 2016 Clinton fiasco).—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The area is significantly polluted with DDT, a chemical used as an insecticide that was banned in 1972.—
Maura Fox,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Other public speakers, like Tabitha Fader, said the reroute would cause irreparable harm if wetlands and rivers were polluted during pipeline construction or in the event of a spill.—
Laura Schulte,
jsonline.com,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The future of the Abraham Accords Israel’s war in Gaza and its drive to establish military dominance in the Middle East have degraded the Abraham Accords but will not disintegrate the agreement.—
Monica Marks,
Time,
19 Sep. 2025
-
In some cases, performance degraded despite having access to better tools.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The prototype delivered 13 per cent conversion efficiency, which, in simple terms, meant that with the prototype, for every 100 units of heat energy that went into the device, about 13 units were turned into electricity.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Sep. 2025
-
To cope, Chinese companies have turned more to grouping large numbers of less efficient, often homegrown, chips together to achieve similar computing capabilities.—
Evelyn Cheng,
CNBC,
18 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Constant procedural upheaval and backlogs are poison.—
Scott White,
Forbes.com,
15 Aug. 2025
-
Behavior and reproduction Most frogs are nocturnal, but not poison frogs.—
National Geographic,
National Geographic,
28 Feb. 2020
Verb
-
The same colleagues were yet to watch the finale, and for fear of being spoiled, refused to help with my research.—
Thomas Page,
CNN Money,
18 Sep. 2025
-
If even one of them kept score, the dynamic was seemingly spoiled by lower satisfaction across the board.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Then there’s the technical challenge of ensuring the freshwater doesn’t get contaminated by the salty water that lies above and below it.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
17 Sep. 2025
-
In addition, the soil was found to be contaminated with lead, arsenic and other chemicals, a legacy of industrial use prior to the community being developed.—
Jeffrey Steele,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Poisoned.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poisoned. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share