destroying angel

noun

: any of several very poisonous pure white amanita mushrooms (such as Amanita verna or A. virosa) : death cap

Examples of destroying angel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So are Western destroying angel mushroom, which have creamy white caps and white gills. — Sacbee.com, 1 June 2026

Heavy rain has caused death cap mushrooms, including the Western destroying angel mushroom — one of the deadliest fungi — to bloom. — David Matthews, New York Daily News, 15 Jan. 2026

However, unlike death cap mushrooms and destroying angels, many of the toxins found in Amanita muscaria are water-soluble and can be removed by parboiling them prior to cooking or by other means. — Matt Kasson, Popular Science, 15 Oct. 2025

In the Bay Area, there are two mushrooms that are unsafe for any creature, and those are the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and the western destroying angel (Amanita ocreata). — Joan Morris, Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1900, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

destroying angel

noun

de·​stroy·​ing an·​gel di-ˌstrȯi(-i)ŋ-ˈān-jəl 

: any of several very poisonous pure white mushrooms of the genus Amanita (as A. verna, A. virosa, or A. ocreata)

also : a death cap (A. phalloides) whether white or colored