poisoning

verb

present participle of poison
1
as in tainting
to affect slightly with something morally bad or undesirable poisoning the minds of impressionable children with ethnic hatred

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2
as in polluting
to make unfit for use by the addition of something harmful or undesirable exhaust fumes poisoning the air

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3
as in degrading
to lower in character, dignity, or quality this party partisanship poisons the national debate we should be having about this urgent problem

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4
as in turning
to cause to have often negative opinions formed without sufficient knowledge malicious rumors had poisoned many church members against the new pastor

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of poisoning In the past farmers have been suspected of deliberately poisoning elephants to prevent them from eating crops. — ABC News, 29 July 2026 Historically used in dry cleaning or to degrease metal parts, the chemicals leaked into the base’s wells, poisoning the drinking water. — Wuft News, Miami Herald, 29 July 2026 In the past, farmers have been suspected of deliberately poisoning elephants to prevent them from eating crops. — CBS News, 29 July 2026 What looks like a matter of simple intellectual convenience is more a case of poisoning the water hole. — Richard Lansdown, The New York Review of Books, 25 June 2026 One of Robinson's attorneys, Kathryn Nester, also represented Kouri Richins, who was convicted of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, in March 2022. — Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 23 June 2026 Lewis was accused of poisoning two white female housemates, assaulted by a white mob in response to the charge, and acquitted in court, only to then be accused of stealing art supplies and prohibited from reënrolling. — Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 8 June 2026 It was also used in a separate supply-chain attack poisoning dozens of Red Hat packages. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 8 June 2026 While there will still be the occasional video focused on music or audio — say, poisoning AI music systems or storing data in bird song — lately Benn has been largely focused on the surveillance state. — Terrence O'Brien, The Verge, 6 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for poisoning
  1. tainting
  2. polluting
  3. degrading
  4. turning
  5. spoiling
  6. contaminating
  7. corrupting
  8. convincing
Verb
  • For all intents and purposes, an unknown actor can wade unburdened into the depths of Bond, able to transform without a viewer’s prior expectation tainting the image of 007.
    — Emily Maskell, IndieWire, 10 July 2026
  • District Court Judge Tony Graf ordered measures to prevent the comments by Utah County prosecutor Christopher Ballard from tainting potential jurors should the case go to trial.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 26 June 2026
Definition of tainting
Verb
  • To quickly get the facilities online, the company brought in heavily polluting gas turbines that residents complain is making the air hard to breathe.
    — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Apart from polluting ecosystems and leaving toxic residues on human food sources, these aggressive chemicals drive pests to develop genetic resistance, rendering treatments ineffective over time.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of polluting
Verb
  • The Kremlin has also started to systematically target Ukrainian ports and ships in the Black Sea in hopes of degrading the infrastructure that supports the country’s agricultural exports.
    — Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 31 July 2026
  • In a public service announcement Thursday, the agencies said water and wastewater utilities have reported incidents to the FBI, with some malicious activity degrading water operations.
    — Daniel Arkin, NBC news, 31 July 2026
Definition of degrading
Verb
  • Chip giant Nvidia is eyeing the possibility of turning its artificial intelligence chips into Wall Street's newest asset class.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 11 Aug. 2026
  • Clear terms keep care from turning into confusion later on today.
    — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of turning
Verb
  • Decades later, the government was still buying surplus cheese and storing it in vast underground caves in Missouri, Wisconsin, and Kansas, warehouses cool enough to hold the cheese for years without spoiling.
    — Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The heat won’t be the only thing spoiling New Yorkers’ fun in the sun this weekend.
    — Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of spoiling
Verb
  • Once the gold is separated, the mercury is released into the rivers, contaminating water sources and fish essential to Indigenous life.
    — Gabriela Sa Pessoa, Fortune, 24 July 2026
  • This methane could collect in the same cold pockets where ice and ancient molecules have been collected for billions of years, possibly contaminating this finite, scientific evidence.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 14 July 2026
Definition of contaminating
Verb
  • Validation rules, schema standards and completeness checks at the entry point prevent bad master data from corrupting everything downstream.
    — Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Character also involves standing up to people who are bankrupting and corrupting this country.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 31 May 2026
Definition of corrupting
Verb
  • The callers give a code name or number, further convincing some victims that the gold bar handoff is legitimate.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Some of the largest proposals seeking chunks of Orange County’s lucrative bed tax got the final crack Wednesday at convincing a task force to advance their ideas, which combined would cost billions of dollars.
    — Ryan Gillespie, The Orlando Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of convincing

Browse Nearby Words

poisoned
poisoning
poisonous
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Cite this Entry

“Poisoning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/poisoning. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

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