cyanide

A very poisonous chemical salt, also used to separate gold or silver from rock.

• The laboratory keeps cyanide in a locked cupboard.
• Cyanide is used in some gold mines.
• Tests found cyanide in the dead man's drink.

Common phrases: potassium cyanide, sodium cyanide, cyanide poisoning

A chemical containing a particular group made of one carbon atom and one nitrogen atom.

• The compound is a cyanide.
• Several metal cyanides were identified in the sample.
• The chemist compared an organic cyanide with an inorganic compound.

Common phrases: organic cyanide, metal cyanide, cyanide compound

A poisonous gas containing hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen.

• The fire released cyanide gas.
• Workers wore masks to avoid breathing hydrogen cyanide.
• Sensors detected cyanide in the air near the tank.

Similar words: hydrogen cyanide

Common phrases: hydrogen cyanide, cyanide gas, cyanide fumes

To treat something with a poisonous carbon-and-nitrogen chemical, or use it to kill someone.

• The workers cyanided the ore.
• The report described how the metal had been cyanided.
• The detective suspected that someone had cyanided the victim.

Common phrases: cyanide the ore, cyanide someone