nerve agent

noun

: a toxic, usually odorless organophosphate (such as sarin, tabun, or VX) that is used as a chemical weapon in gaseous or liquid form, disrupts the transmission of nerve impulses, and may cause breathing difficulties, coughing, vomiting, muscle weakness or paralysis, convulsions, coma, and death : nerve gas

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The dance video, in which the blue balloons stood in for ions, depicted how Marshall’s Ph.D. work aims to make these materials more effective for other applications, such as water filtration and nerve agent detoxification. —Byscience News Staff, science.org, 16 Mar. 2023

British chemical-weapons analysts determined that the substance was Novichok, a deadly nerve agent devised decades earlier by Soviet military intelligence. —Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2023

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury. —Chloe Taylor, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2023

Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris) — Anti-authoritarian Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny recovers in Berlin after nearly being poisoned to death with the nerve agent Novichok. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 4 Jan. 2023

Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris) — Anti-authoritarian Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny recovers in Berlin after nearly being poisoned to death with the nerve agent Novichok. —Vulture, 4 Jan. 2023

Right before he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been filming interviews in Siberia that highlighted construction problems and the dangerous living conditions of certain neighborhoods. —Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 25 Dec. 2022

Navalny tells the story of how the now-45-year-old dissident political figure with a piercing stare and huge online following is one of the few people to have recovered from being poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok. —Andy Meek, Forbes, 23 Apr. 2022

Having settled in the English city of Salisbury, he was poisoned in March 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent, along with his daughter Yulia, 33, who had traveled from Russia to visit him, British police said. —Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 2 Sep. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1953, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

nerve agent

noun

: a toxic, usually odorless organophosphate (such as sarin, tabun, or VX) that disrupts the transmission of nerve impulses by inhibiting cholinesterase and especially acetylcholinesterase and is used as a chemical weapon in gaseous or liquid form : nerve gas

Note: Nerve agents may be inhaled, absorbed through the skin, or ingested in contaminated food or water. Symptoms of exposure include runny nose, increased salivation, sweating, breathing difficulties, coughing, vomiting, muscle weakness or paralysis, convulsions, coma, and respiratory arrest leading to death.