carcinogenic
adjective
Jefferson KollePeter Bernfeld
Philip M. Boffey
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It sometimes seems as if the list of carcinogenic substances gets longer every day. A substance such as a food additive that's been in common use for years may unexpectedly show signs of being carcinogenic in laboratory experiments. When that happens, the suspected carcinogen will often have to be withdrawn from the market. When a building material like asbestos turns out to be a carcinogen, it may also have to be physically removed from buildings. English has hundreds of other scientific words ending in -genic (such as allergenic), and in almost all of them the ending means "causing".
Examples of carcinogenic in a Sentence
James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2025
Read more Food recall Trader Joe's Food Recalled in 31 States: Full List of Products Impacted
However, Yellow 5 can cause allergic reactions, and also contains the carcinogenic contaminants Benzidine and 4-amino-biphenyl.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025
Astronauts on the International Space Station, too, should be subject to lower doses of this carcinogenic radiation, which could make human spaceflight in the coming decades somewhat less health-threatening.
—Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 17 Apr. 2025
Regional Winner: North and Central America, Stories [1/4] For two days after the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023, train cars full of hazardous materials and carcinogenic gases kept burning.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for carcinogenic
Cite this Entry
“Carcinogenic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carcinogenic. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
carcinogenic
adjective
The Journal of the American Medical Association
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