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

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

And chatbots can theoretically walk a would-be terrorist through the steps of making a bomb, nerve gas, and a host of other horrors. —IEEE Spectrum, 14 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above

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