From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtoxictox‧ic /ˈtɒksɪk $ ˈtɑːk-/ ●●○ adjective 1 HARM/BE BAD FORcontaining poison, or caused by poisonous substances → toxin fumes from a toxic waste dumptoxic chemicals/substances/fumes/gases Toxic chemicals were spilled into the river. a highly toxic pesticide► see thesaurus at harmful2 → toxic debt/loan/asset3 informal very unpleasant and causing a lot of harm or unhappiness You are clearly in a toxic relationship and you need to get out of it. —toxicity /tɒkˈsɪsəti $ tɑːk-/ noun [countable, uncountable] The metal has a relatively low toxicity to humans.
Examples from the Corpus
toxic• Research has found that the drug contains a toxic chemical that can cause respiratory problems.• toxic chemicals• An initial program may include only the most acutely toxic chemicals.• I began to feel slightly nauseous and wondered if Archie's words might be having a toxic effect.• A pathologist gave the cause of death as toxic poisoning from a combination of Coproximol and alcohol.• highly toxic radioactive waste products• Disulfiram should not be used or used cautiously in any person at increased risk for having a toxic reaction.• This toxic recycling has sucked the life out of political debate.• The plastic is removed by burning it off, a process that creates a haze of toxic smoke.• Certain toxic syndromes indicating a specific substance may become familiar to medical staff owing to frequent local abuse.• Carbon dioxide is not highly toxic to animals or humans in small amounts.• We need more installations for the disposal of toxic waste.toxic waste• Plans are also afoot to transform the disused salt mines of Saxony and Thuringia into depositories for toxic waste.• She said it was Humphreys' responsibility as managing director to follow the correct procedure for getting rid of toxic waste.• This has been seriously assessed as a way of disposing of nuclear waste, but not toxic waste.• They included the construction of sewage purification plants in 100 coastal cities and the establishment of at least 25 supervised toxic waste depots.• It's not like opposing nuclear reactors or toxic waste dumps, each one of which poses new risks to new areas.• Andrew Graham says a toxic waste incinerator owned by Re-Chem, was responsible for poisoning cattle on two of his farms.• Ammonia is the toxic waste produced by the fish and this is initially bacterially broken down to nitrite in your filtration system.• Indeed, they see incineration as a solution to toxic waste whose usefulness should be employed on a greater range of materials.Origin toxic (1600-1700) Late Latin toxicus, from Latin toxicum “poison”, from Greek toxikon “arrow poison”, from toxon “bow, arrow” 