venomous

English

Etymology

From Middle English venemous, venymous, from Anglo-Norman venimus, from venin. Cf. Latin venēnōsus. Equivalent to venom +‎ -ous.

Alternative forms

• venemous (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛnəməs/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

Adjective

venomous (comparative more venomous, superlative most venomous)

1. Full of venom.

   The villain tricked him into drinking the venomous concoction.

2. Toxic; poisonous.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:

     More venemous and much more virulent
     Then any poyſoned tode, or any ſerpent.

3. Noxious; evil.
4. Malignant; spiteful; hateful.

   His attitude toward me is utterly venomous.

5. Producing venom (a toxin usually injected into an enemy or prey by biting or stinging) in glands or accumulating venom from food.

   Do venomous spiders have glands?

6. powerful
   • 2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Arsenal pressed forward again after half-time but other than a venomous Walcott shot that Howard repelled with a fine one-handed save, the hosts offered little cutting edge.

Usage notes

See poisonous#Usage notes.

Synonyms

• noxious
• poisonous
• toxic

Antonyms

• non-venomous

Translations

pertaining to or denoting an animal capable of producing a poisonous chemical

• Asturian: venenosu
• Azerbaijani: zəhərli (az)
• Catalan: verinós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有毒的 (yǒudú de)

• Czech: jedovatý (cs)
• Danish: giftig (da)
• Finnish: myrkyllinen (fi)
• French: vénéneux (fr), venimeux (fr)
• Friulian: velenôs
• Georgian: შხამიანი (šxamiani), გესლიანი (gesliani)
• German: giftig (de)
• Greek: ιοβόλος (el) (iovólos), δηλητηριώδης (el) (dilitiriódis)

  Ancient: ἰοβόλος (iobólos)

• Italian: velenoso (it)
• Macedonian: отровен (otroven)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: giftig (no)

  Nynorsk: giftig (nn)

• Occitan: verinós (oc)
• Polish: jadowity (pl)
• Portuguese: peçonhento (pt), venenoso (pt)
• Romanian: veninos (ro)
• Russian: ядови́тый (ru) (jadovítyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: puinnseanta
• Sicilian: vilinusu
• Slovene: strupeno n
• Spanish: venenoso (es)
• Swedish: giftig (sv)
• Venetian: vełenoxo

pertaining to or containing venom

• Catalan: verinós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有毒的 (yǒudú de)

• Czech: jedovatý (cs)
• Danish: giftig (da)
• Finnish: myrkyllinen (fi)
• French: venimeux (fr)
• Galician: velenoso, pezoñento
• Georgian: შხამიანი (šxamiani), გესლიანი (gesliani)
• German: giftig (de)
• Greek: δηλητηριώδης (el) (dilitiriódis)
• Italian: velenoso (it)

• Macedonian: отровен (otroven)
• Old English: ǣtriġ
• Polish: jadowity (pl), trujący (pl)
• Portuguese: peçonhento (pt)
• Russian: ядови́тый (ru) (jadovítyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: puinnseanta
• Slovene: zastrupljeno n
• Spanish: venenoso (es)
• Swedish: giftig (sv)

malignant; spiteful; hateful

• Catalan: verinós (ca)
• Danish: giftig (da)
• Finnish: myrkyllinen (fi) (figuratively), katkera (fi), häijy (fi)
• French: malveillant (fr)
• Georgian: გესლიანი (gesliani)
• Greek: ιοβόλος (el) (iovólos)
• Irish: aiciseach
• Macedonian: отровен (otroven)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: giftig (no)

  Nynorsk: giftig (nn)

• Portuguese: peçonhento (pt)
• Russian: зло́бный (ru) (zlóbnyj), злой (ru) (zloj)
• Slovene: strupeno n
• Spanish: maléfico

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} giftig (nl), ^{(please verify)} venijnig (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} vénéneux (fr)

• German: ^{(please verify)} giftig (de)
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} strupen (sl), ^{(please verify)} zastrupljen

References

• “venomous” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• venomous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.