VENOMOUS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does venomous mean? 

• VENOMOUS (adjective)
  The adjective VENOMOUS has 2 senses:

1. extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom

2. marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful

  Familiarity information: VENOMOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VENOMOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom

Synonyms:

deadly; venomous; virulent

Context example:

a virulent insect bite

Similar:

toxic (of or relating to or caused by a toxin or poison)

Derivation:

venom (toxin secreted by animals; secreted by certain snakes and poisonous insects (e.g., spiders and scorpions))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful

Synonyms:

poisonous; venomous; vicious

Context example:

vicious gossip

Similar:

malicious (having the nature of or resulting from malice)

Derivation:

venom (feeling a need to see others suffer)

 Context examples 

He looked at me with venomous eyes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The man giggled in his venomous way.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Researchers at Ohio University have found the oldest definitive fossil evidence of modern, venomous snakes in Africa.

(Researchers find oldest fossil evidence of modern African venomous snakes, NSF)

The king’s son ascended, but instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I struck him down with no more compunction than if he had been some foul and venomous beast.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To make matters worse, the place seemed to be a favorite breeding-place of the Jaracaca snake, the most venomous and aggressive in South America.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The researchers note that for venomous snakes other than the ‘big four’ there is no specific anti-venom.

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)

A 39 amino acid peptide and synthetic version of exendin-4, a hormone found in the saliva of the venomous lizard Gila monster, with insulin secretagogue and antihyperglycemic activity.

(Exenatide, NCI Thesaurus)

Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo, and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with their deadly eyes and wicked, flattened faces?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I said nothing in reply, but turned my face to the wall, sick at heart, with my mind filled with a thousand venomous doubts and suspicions.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)