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Toxins Are Often Found in Nature
Long before chemists started creating poisons from scratch, humans were employing natural toxins for killing weeds and insects. For centuries South American tribes have used the toxin curare, extracted from a native vine, to tip their arrows. The garden flower called wolfsbane or monkshood is the source of aconite, an extremely potent toxin. The common flower known as jimsonweed contains the deadly poison scopolamine. And the castor-oil plant yields the almost unbelievably poisonous toxin called ricin. Today we hear health advisers of all kinds talk about ridding the body of toxins; but they're usually pretty vague about which ones they mean, and most of these "toxins" wouldn't be called that by biologists.
Examples of toxin in a Sentence
Julie Marks, Verywell Health, 26 June 2025
Beyond creating toxins that can directly kill animals, or harm humans that eat contaminated animals, people may suffer skin irritation and respiratory problems from contact with some of these microorganisms.
—Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025
Death cap mushrooms contain toxins that stop the production of protein in liver cells and the cells begin to die, leading to possible liver failure and death.
—Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 21 June 2025
These illnesses result from toxins produced by the bacteria, not from the bacteria itself, and can cause symptoms that range from uncomfortable to potentially dangerous, especially for young kids.
—Annabelle Canela, Parents, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for toxin
Cite this Entry
“Toxin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toxin. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
derived from Latin tox- "poisonous" and English -in "chemical compound"; tox- from toxicum "poison," from Greek toxikon "arrow poison," from toxon "bow, arrow" — related to intoxicate, toxic see Word History at intoxicate
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