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Definition of ricin
: a poisonous protein in the castor bean
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Recent Examples of ricin from the Web
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The $143 million Fort Detrick laboratory, which opened just seven years ago, has been used by the FBI to test substances in high-profile cases, including a letter sent to the White House in 2013 that contained the deadly compound ricin.
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Federal prosecutors said FBI agents seized castor beans from Layman's home, along with instructions on how to make ricin.
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On June 30, the FBI executed a search warrant, allegedly turning up castor beans in Layman’s kitchen, along with a mortar and pestle and instructions on how to make ricin.
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And in one case, a Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, was killed on Waterloo Bridge in London in 1978 with an umbrella tipped with a pellet of ricin.
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Meanwhile, two members of the Minnesota Patriots Council – one of scores of heavily armed US militia groups – were convicted of planning to use ricin, a biological toxin, to kill federal agents.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ricin.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of ricin
Latin ricinus castor-oil plant
Medical Dictionary
ricin
play
noun
ri·cin
\ˈrīs-ən, ˈris-\
Medical Definition of ricin
: a poisonous protein in the castor bean
Learn More about ricin
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about ricin
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