poisoning

poisoning — noun

1. a condition in which your body becomes sick because a harmful chemical, gas, or

1.nounB2
Definition

a condition in which your body becomes sick because a harmful chemical, gas, or contaminated food enters it through your mouth, nose, or skin

Example

Sahil was taken to hospital with severe poisoning after drinking water from a contaminated well.

collocation: severe poisoning / contaminated well

The health department warned residents about carbon monoxide poisoning from broken heaters in winter.

collocation: carbon monoxide poisoning

Common collocations
  • food poisoning
  • lead poisoning
  • carbon monoxide poisoning
  • alcohol poisoning
  • mercury poisoning
  • suffer from poisoning
  • die of poisoning
  • cause poisoning
  • treat poisoning
Synonyms
  • intoxication

    usually refers specifically to the effects of alcohol or drugs, less common for general toxic substances

  • toxicity

    refers to the degree of harmfulness of a substance, not the illness itself

  • contamination

    broader term for the presence of harmful substances, not necessarily causing illness

Grammar Patterns

[cause] poisoning

suffer from poisoning

die of/from poisoning

Usage Note

Often uncountable when referring to the condition in general ('He died of poisoning'), but can be countable when referring to specific incidents or types ('two lead poisonings were reported last year').

Common Mistakes

She died of food poison.
She died of food poisoning.
'poisoning' is the illness; 'poison' is the harmful substance itself.
I caught poisoning from the restaurant.
I got food poisoning from the restaurant.
'catch' is used for infectious diseases, not poisoning.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

While 'poisoning' refers to the illness or condition that results when a harmful substance enters the body, 'intoxication' is mostly used for the effects of alcohol or drugs (e.g., 'acute alcohol intoxication'). 'Contamination' means the presence of a harmful substance in something like water or food, but does not describe the resulting illness (e.g., 'lead contamination in the water supply'). 'Toxicity' is a scientific measure of how poisonous a substance is (e.g., 'the toxicity of this chemical is extremely high'). A person suffers from poisoning, not from toxicity or contamination. For example: 'The contamination of the river led to cases of poisoning in the village.' 'The doctor treated him for alcohol intoxication, not food poisoning.'

intoxicationcontaminationtoxicity

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • risk of poisoning
  • symptoms of poisoning
  • die of poisoning
  • die from poisoning
  • case of poisoning
  • cause of poisoning

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The noun 'poisoning' comes from the verb 'poison', which entered English from Old French 'poison' (meaning a drink, especially a medicinal or poisonous drink), itself from Latin 'potionem' (a drink, a draught). The '-ing' suffix turns the verb into a noun that describes the condition or process of being affected by a poison.