nerve agent
13
8.8
- noun
- /nɜrv ˈeɪdʒənt/
- NSFW
:
agente nervioso
- The, the use of nerve agents in this country is appalling and impossible to excuse.
- chemical nerve agent
Examples
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The submarine's purpose is to deploy a nerve agent called Silent Night.
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But it remains unclear if this nerve agent had been retained by the government or newly manufactured.
Academic text (2017) -
But yesterday, yesterday, yesterday, Tillerson said the nerve agent came from Russia.
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That, my dear boy, is an antidote to the most powerful nerve agent ever created.
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Well, it's an A 234 nerve agent called Novichok 7.
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There's enough nerve agent here to wipe out half the eastern seaboard.
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For example, we did not ask veterans if they had been exposed to chemical nerve agents because of limitations in their ability to know the answer with any certainty.
Academic text (2012) -
Currently, about 3,400 metric tons of chemical nerve agent are stored in over a thousand igloos.
Academic text (1998) -
Even the prophylaxes meant to protect the soldiers—such as vaccinations against anthrax and pills against nerve agents—present health risks.
Academic text (2003) -
Investigators found traces of a nerve agent at the scene of the poisoning incident.
Synonyms
24
9.9
A very poisonous chemical used as a weapon that can kill quickly
19
6.8
A very poisonous gas that stops people breathing, often used as a weapon
9
7.8
A poison that damages nerves and can stop movement
7
4.1
A substance used to cause or speed up a change in other substances
1
9.9
A very strong poison used as a weapon that attacks the nerves and can kill by touching skin or breathing
1
9.9
A very strong poison used as a weapon that attacks the nerves and can kill quickly
A very poisonous chemical weapon like sarin or tabun that stops nerves working quickly
A very strong poison that attacks the nerves, like sarin, used as a weapon
A very poisonous chemical that attacks the nerves and is used as a weapon
A very poisonous chemical weapon that stops the body's nerves working
How Toxic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally transparent: 'nerve' refers to the nervous system and 'agent' denotes an entity causing an effect, so a learner who knows both words can infer it means an agent that acts on nerves (i.e., a harmful chemical disrupting the nervous system). This structure is cross‑linguistically common, so a B1 learner would grasp the general toxic/medical sense even if they might not know the specific weaponized connotation.
Etymology
Nerve agent comes from the idea that the chemical is an agent that attacks the body's nerves. It can stop breathing and movement very quickly, so the name means a very strong poison that harms the nerves.