Nocuous
[NAHK-yoo-əs]
Part of speech: adjective
Origin: Latin, mid-17th century
1.
Noxious, harmful, or poisonous.
Examples of Nocuous in a sentence
"The lab techs wore close-fitting face masks to protect them from the nocuous liquids they were mixing."
"Removing the nocuous plants growing behind the garden was a complicated job."
About Nocuous
“Nocuous” is based on the Latin “nocuus,” an adjective based on the verb “nocere,” meaning “to hurt.”
Did you Know?
The definition for “nocuous” in the Oxford English Dictionary includes the words “poisonous” and “venomous.” But talk to a veterinarian or park ranger, and they’ll tell you that those two words are not synonyms. A poison is a toxin that enters the body by inhaling, swallowing, or absorption through the skin (think poison ivy). Venom is a toxin that enters the body through injection: snake bites, bee stings, spider bites, etc. So, while both venom and poison are nocuous in that they are harmful, they are not synonymous with each other.
