1
as in tainting
to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable
poisoning the minds of impressionable children with ethnic hatred
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in polluting
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable
exhaust fumes poisoning the air
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in degrading
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 turning
to cause to have often negative opinions formed without sufficient knowledge
malicious rumors had poisoned many church members against the new pastor
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of poisoning
That same day, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally poisoning Angela.
—
Doc Louallen, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2025
Adam Kron, a senior attorney at the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said any company ignoring or avoiding regulations entirely reminds him of the fracking boom in the early 2010s, when companies moved quickly to drill, poisoning some local communities’ groundwater in the process.
—Taylor Kate Brown, ProPublica, 17 Sep. 2025
Thousands of multivitamin bottles sold on Amazon and other websites have been recalled over a risk of serious injury or death by poisoning.
—Joel Thayer, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
Sherrilyn McQueen, who has published more than 80 novels that reached the New York Times bestseller list under the name Sherrilyn Kenyon, first accused her ex-husband Lawrence Kenyon of poisoning her in a lawsuit in 2019, a year after her husband filed for divorce.
—Evan Mealins, The Tennessean, 10 Sep. 2025
Symptoms of salmonella poisoning Symptoms of salmonella infection usually start six hours to six days after swallowing the bacteria.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
Trump blamed Schumer for poisoning the well with unreasonable demands, while the New York Democrat said the president’s nominees deserve an extra layer of scrutiny given his actions during the first eight months of his term.
—Al Weaver, The Hill, 4 Sep. 2025
Beyond the broader ecological catastrophes that await us, wildfires harm people with smoke that can travel hundreds of kilometers from the source fire, poisoning people with small particles and a portfolio of toxins.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
In the mid-1890s, her former landlords Israel and Lovey Dunham died after sudden illnesses; Toppan later acknowledged poisoning them, according to Boston Magazine.
—Christina Coulter, People.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Doc Louallen, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2025
Adam Kron, a senior attorney at the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said any company ignoring or avoiding regulations entirely reminds him of the fracking boom in the early 2010s, when companies moved quickly to drill, poisoning some local communities’ groundwater in the process.
—Taylor Kate Brown, ProPublica, 17 Sep. 2025
Thousands of multivitamin bottles sold on Amazon and other websites have been recalled over a risk of serious injury or death by poisoning.
—Joel Thayer, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
Sherrilyn McQueen, who has published more than 80 novels that reached the New York Times bestseller list under the name Sherrilyn Kenyon, first accused her ex-husband Lawrence Kenyon of poisoning her in a lawsuit in 2019, a year after her husband filed for divorce.
—Evan Mealins, The Tennessean, 10 Sep. 2025
Symptoms of salmonella poisoning Symptoms of salmonella infection usually start six hours to six days after swallowing the bacteria.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025
Trump blamed Schumer for poisoning the well with unreasonable demands, while the New York Democrat said the president’s nominees deserve an extra layer of scrutiny given his actions during the first eight months of his term.
—Al Weaver, The Hill, 4 Sep. 2025
Beyond the broader ecological catastrophes that await us, wildfires harm people with smoke that can travel hundreds of kilometers from the source fire, poisoning people with small particles and a portfolio of toxins.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
In the mid-1890s, her former landlords Israel and Lovey Dunham died after sudden illnesses; Toppan later acknowledged poisoning them, according to Boston Magazine.
—Christina Coulter, People.com, 16 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poisoning
Verb
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Rahmani, the former prosecutor, said statements by Patel and other Justice Department officials could raise concerns about tainting the jury pool in a future trial.—
Erin Mansfield,
USA Today,
15 Sep. 2025
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And around all this, the whiff of Epstein is tainting the president's achievements.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Aug. 2025
Verb
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In the last decade, more than 80 cases have been filed around the world that seek to force polluting companies to pay the cost of climate damages, according to a report from Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics.—
Justin Worland,
Time,
12 Sep. 2025
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What To Know The annual $1 billion allocation comes from California's cap-and-invest program, which collects fees from polluting industries.—
Theo Burman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Wall Street anticipated interest rates to be eased in recent weeks, following hotter-than-expected jobs data that indicated the labor market was degrading at a faster pace than projected, and inflation, which ticked up again in August while still above the central bank’s 2% goal.—
Ty Roush,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
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Furthermore, a protective crystalline layer is then applied to the tape to prevent the DNA from degrading.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The crowd takes it all in wearing headphones with green lights, turning the night into a kind of silent disco in a scene straight out of Mad Max.—
David Hochman,
Forbes.com,
14 Sep. 2025
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The Andante cantabile offers benevolence tinged with shadow, its harmonies turning suddenly ominous.—
Sheila Regan,
Twin Cities,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Without spoiling the actual ending, you guys do not die.—
Brian Hiatt,
Rolling Stone,
12 Sep. 2025
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Without spoiling anyone’s fate, suffice to say the movie ends on a cliffhanger, as a favorite character teeters between life and death.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
12 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Can it be taken without an unacceptable risk of contaminating the supply from the ocean above?—
Rodrique Ngowi,
Fortune,
7 Sep. 2025
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Just as Cassini was sent into Saturn at the end of its mission to avoid contaminating Saturn’s moons with any stowaway organics brought from Earth, so too will Juno be brought to an end by forcing it to plunge into a gas giant world.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The additional time exposed to harsh radiation is, not surprisingly, corrupting JunoCam's images.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
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This comes as reports continue to roll in that another August update fail has been corrupting PC SSDs when writing large files.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
21 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Be suspicious of urgent messages One of the most alarming details in the Anthropic report was how the hacker used AI to craft convincing extortion notes.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
13 Sep. 2025
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Maizy ends up meeting convincing city slicker Gordy (played by Quinn VanAntwerp), who senses the opportunity to take these small town’s woes and turn them into cash.—
Jim Harrington,
Mercury News,
11 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Poisoning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poisoning. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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