nerve gas
noun
Simple meaning
A toxic chemical compound and banned weapon of mass destruction which, when inhaled or ingested, impairs nervous system functions.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nurvgasSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnɝvˈɡæs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A toxic chemical compound and banned weapon of mass destruction which, when inhaled or ingested, impairs nervous system functions, typically causing extreme physical distress and death by asphyxiation.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A toxic chemical compound and banned weapon of mass destruction which, when inhaled or ingested, impairs nervous system functions, typically causing extreme physical distress and death by asphyxiation.
Used this way, nerve gas is a specialist word carrying real weight of difficulty or hurt. It lands hard, so it overstates anything mild. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Strongly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Very strong
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Strongly negative / painful
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.