called also arsenic trioxide
Examples of arsenic in a Sentence
Ali Francis, Bon Appétit, 23 Jan. 2024
Depending on how stringent the evaluation criteria applied were, between 23 and 41 percent of the participants did not get a satisfactory result for the determination of total arsenic, and between 25 and 43 percent did not get a satisfactory result for the determination of inorganic arsenic.
—Julian Tyson, Discover Magazine, 7 May 2015
Advertisement The groundwater is tainted with toxic arsenic, so the project will also require building a facility to treat the water before sending it flowing back into the California Aqueduct.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2023
It can also be detected in animal products treated with some veterinary drugs or shellfish, which aggregate arsenic from seawater.
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Oct. 2023
Preservation with borax and arsenic affected the intensity of fluorescence, increasing it in certain cases while dampening it in others.
—Cara Giaimo, New York Times, 20 Oct. 2023
Heavy metal poisoning occurs when microscopic molecules of metals — like lead, mercury and arsenic — accumulate within your body after exposure, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning include abdominal pain, chills, dehydration, feeling weak, and nausea or vomiting.
—Vanessa Etienne, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2023
White arsenic was a key ingredient for manufacturing boll weevil pesticides.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2023
Drying aquifers can also cause increased the level of cancer-causing arsenic, which is usually trapped inside clay but released into the water supply when met with dry conditions.
—Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 1 Sep. 2023
Dusty Parnell, Idaho Statesman, 31 Jan. 2024
This property, tucked between the otherworldly cliffs along the Ojo Caliente River, boasts one of the country's only thermal springs with four healing minerals: lithia, soda, arsenic, and iron.
—Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 7 Mar. 2024
The permit also will add first-time limitations on salt, arsenic and a group of compounds known as BTEX that are dumped into the water.
—Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post, 6 Mar. 2024
The proposal before lawmakers would require makers of baby food sold in Maryland to test for toxic heavy metals — part of a wave of state-level efforts to regulate food for children under two as the FDA works to establish voluntary limits for lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury.
—Jenna Portnoy, Washington Post, 10 Feb. 2024
The state health department recommends testing private wells every year for bacteria and nitrate, and once every five years for contaminants like lead and arsenic.
—Journal Sentinel, 24 Jan. 2024
There are numerous heavy metals, but in a dietary context, four are considered to pose significant human health risks—lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury.
—Ali Francis, Bon Appétit, 23 Jan. 2024
That’s when a congressional investigation found that major commercial baby food brands were contaminated with significant levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury.
—Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, 13 Dec. 2023
Massive piles of mining waste around the rest of the 160-acre landscape enough to fill 250,000 dump trucks are contaminated with arsenic, mercury and other toxics.
—Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'arsenic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun
Middle English arsenek, arsenic "any of various compounds of arsenic, as yellow orpiment (arsenic trisulfide)," borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French arsenik, arsneke, borrowed from Latin arrhenicum, arsenicon, borrowed from Greek arsenikón, arrhenikón, probably borrowed from Aramaic zarnīḵ "arsenic" or a cognate Semitic word, borrowed from an unattested form in a Middle Iranian language (whence Persian zarnī, zarnīk "orpiment, arsenic"), a derivative of the word for "gold" (as Manichaean Parthian zrn /zarn/ "gold," zrnyn /zarnēn/ "golden"), alluding to the yellow color of orpiment
Note: The Greek word is assumed to have been reshaped by folk-etymological association with arsenikós, arrhenikós "male, masculine." Aramaic zarnīḵ is attested in a papyrus text (an order to repair a boat) dated January, 411 b.c., found in elephantine, Egypt (see A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C., Oxford, 1923, pp. 88-97; B. Porten, The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, Brill, 1996, pp. 115-22); the word is also attested in Syriac a number of centuries later. The Manichaean Parthian forms are from D. Durkin-Meisterernst, Dictionary of Manichaean Texts, vol. III, Part 1, Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian, Brepols, 2004. Parthian zrn and zrnyn are continuations of an Old Iranian etymon represented by Avestan zarańiia- "gold"—see note at gold entry 1.
Adjective
from attributive or compound use of arsenic entry 1
Dictionary Entries Near arsenic
Cite this Entry
“Arsenic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arsenic. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
arsenic
noun
Medical Definition
arsenic
1 of 2 noun
arsenic
2 of 2 adjective
More from Merriam-Webster on arsenic
Nglish: Translation of arsenic for Spanish Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about arsenic
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