poisoned

1. 1
   adjective

   Killed, paralyzed, or harmed as a result of taking in a dose of poison.

   The poisoned soldiers were rushed to the field hospital.

   The victims appeared poisoned, their lips blue and their breathing shallow.

   Note

   Here the poison has already done its work, and the word applies to living things: the prey, the victim, the dog that took the bait. That makes it the mirror image of the "carrying poison" meaning, and the noun usually settles which one is meant. The snake's poisoned prey is the casualty, while the hunters' poisoned darts are the weapon. Before a person or animal, read harm received. Before an object, read harm delivered.

2. 2
   adjective

   Containing poison and therefore able to harm or kill.

   The assassin coated the blade with a poisoned resin.

   Birds died after feeding on the poisoned grain left in the fields.

   Similarpoisonous, toxic, tainted, contaminated

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of poison.

   The jealous courtier poisoned the duke's wine.

   Many fish were poisoned when chemicals leaked into the lake.

   Note

   The verb form also does duty in laboratories and on networks. Besides killing and polluting, poison can mean to inhibit a catalyst or to plant malicious data in a cache, so a chemist may report a poisoned catalyst and a security team a poisoned cache. In passives such as the fish were poisoned, the line blurs with the adjective for victims. Adding an agent, as in poisoned by chemicals, marks the verb.

4. 4
   adjectivefiguratively

   Having a strongly negative effect; deeply harmful to something such as a relationship or atmosphere.

   Decades of mistrust left relations between the two nations poisoned.

   A poisoned political climate made any compromise impossible.

   Similartoxic, poisonous, soured

   Note

   What is spoiled here is no longer a body or a drink but a shared atmosphere. The word sits most naturally with nouns for conditions people live inside, such as environment, climate, atmosphere and relations. It often follows its noun as a result, as in relations left poisoned or a debate poisoned by suspicion. Because the verb behind it means to make something much worse, it keeps a hint that something did the damage.

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