Adjective: toxic
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
Perifrastic
| Comparative | more toxic |
| Superlative | most toxic |
Sample Sentences
-
Tobacco smoke contains many toxic substances.
-
If some types of electronic waste aren’t incinerated at a high enough temperature, dioxins, which can cause cancer and developmental problems, infiltrate the food supply. Without proper safeguarding, toxic heavy metals seep into the soil and groundwater. [2019 December 8, Hannah Beech, Ryn Jirenuwat, “The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs”, in New York Times:]
-
The child appeared toxic on arrival at the hospital.
-
a toxic environment that promoted bullying
-
It is not good to be around toxic people.
-
Though Twitter is still overrun with toxic anger and fear-based nonsense (now more than ever), it is also, in one crucial way, beginning to play an important role in our response to the pandemic. [2020 April 23, Cal Newport, “'Expert Twitter' Only Goes So Far. Bring Back Blogs”, in Wired:]
-
A veteran UN diplomat, Kaag, 62, said the environment for politicians in the Netherlands had become “toxic” as she and colleagues faced a continual barrage of “hate, intimidation and threats” and often needed tight police security. [2024 April 29, Jon Henley, “Surreal claims, lawfare and abuse: toxic politics in Spain reflect the new Europe”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:]
-
“I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics … put down the knives, be kind to one another … I never wanted to cause any harm,” [Marjorie Taylor] Greene said. [2025 November 16, Joanna Walters, quoting Marjorie Taylor Greene, “Marjorie Taylor Greene says Trump’s remarks hurtful but hopes they can make up”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:]
Adjectives inflected like toxic
priest-ridden,
unreposed,
evadible,
dissentious,
dissentient,
unforesighted,
egocentrical,
unephemeral,
unennobling,
mensuralist,
flocculent,
unseductive,
whoopsy,
whooshy,
surrogate,
Nicodian,
unrepaired,
prismatoidal,
renorenal,
unseducible, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Undeterminedder.?
3. Ancient Greek τόξον (tóxon)
4. Proto-Indo-European *-kos
5. Proto-Hellenic *-kos
6. Ancient Greek -κός (-kós)
7. Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós)
8. Ancient Greek τοξῐκός (toxĭkós)
9. Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón)der.
10. Latin toxicum
11. Proto-Indo-European *-kos
12. Proto-Italic *-kos
13. Latin -cus
14. Latin toxicusbor.
15. French toxiquebor.
16. English toxic
17. Borrowed from French toxique, from Late Latin toxicus (“poisoned”), from Latin toxicum (“poison”), from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón) [φάρμακον (phármakon)] ("poison for use on arrows"), from τοξικός (toxikós, “pertaining to arrows or archery”), from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”). See: French Adjectives '
toxique'.