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Toxins Are Often Found in Nature
Long before chemists started creating poisons from scratch, humans were employing natural toxins for killing weeds and insects. For centuries South American tribes have used the toxin curare, extracted from a native vine, to tip their arrows. The garden flower called wolfsbane or monkshood is the source of aconite, an extremely potent toxin. The common flower known as jimsonweed contains the deadly poison scopolamine. And the castor-oil plant yields the almost unbelievably poisonous toxin called ricin. Today we hear health advisers of all kinds talk about ridding the body of toxins; but they're usually pretty vague about which ones they mean, and most of these "toxins" wouldn't be called that by biologists.
Examples of toxin in a Sentence
Jared Sullivan, TIME, 30 Oct. 2024
One of the especially dangerous elements of a STEC-type E. coli infection is that it cannot be treated with antibiotics, since bursting the bacteria can lead to more release of toxins and possibly worsen symptoms.
—Mustafa Fattah, NBC News, 24 Oct. 2024
Botulism is a naturally occurring toxin that proliferates in shallow water.
—Kale Williams, Axios, 17 Oct. 2024
Venomous creatures are milked, then a small, non-harmful amount of toxin is injected into animals like horses or sheep.
—Jackie Fortiér, CBS News, 30 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for toxin 
Dictionary Entries Near toxin
Cite this Entry
“Toxin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toxin. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
derived from Latin tox- "poisonous" and English -in "chemical compound"; tox- from toxicum "poison," from Greek toxikon "arrow poison," from toxon "bow, arrow" — related to intoxicate, toxic see Word History at intoxicate
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