nerve gas

noun

: an organophosphate chemical weapon that may be inhaled, absorbed through the skin, or ingested and interferes with normal nerve transmission : nerve agent

Examples of nerve gas in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The film ends with Egerton’s Ethan saving the day and preventing the nerve gas attack. Paul Tassi, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024 All the while, Trump has continued the Obama doctrine of avoiding large-scale conventional wars in the Middle East and has succeeded where his predecessor failed in enforcing a real red line against Bashar al-Assad’s use of nerve gas in Syria by launching targeted air strikes in response. Randall Schweller, Foreign Affairs, 14 Aug. 2018 So many of Lanthimos’s movies play like arch behavioral experiments, conducted in a laboratory filled with slow-acting nerve gas. Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 21 June 2024 The injuries appeared consistent with the use of nerve gas. Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, Foreign Affairs, 7 May 2013 See all Example Sentences for nerve gas 

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nerve gas was in 1940

Dictionary Entries Near nerve gas

Cite this Entry

“Nerve gas.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nerve%20gas. Accessed 5 Jan. 2025.

Kids Definition

nerve gas

noun
: a war gas damaging especially to the nervous and respiratory systems

Medical Definition

nerve gas

noun
: an organophosphate chemical weapon that may be inhaled, absorbed through the skin, or ingested and interferes with normal nerve transmission : nerve agent

More from Merriam-Webster on nerve gas

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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