toxicity
Meaning of toxicity: Toxicity describes how harmful a substance is to the body, a property that depends heavily on dose, exposure, and the tissue affected.
Definition of toxicity
Toxicity refers to the extent to which a substance is capable of causing harm to the body. Nearly any substance can become toxic under the right circumstances, since toxicity generally depends on the dose received, the duration of exposure, and the route by which it enters the body, rather than being a fixed property of the substance alone.
Toxicity can be described as acute, developing rapidly after a single large exposure, or chronic, developing gradually after smaller, repeated exposures over time. It can also be described in terms of the specific organ affected, such as toxicity to the liver, kidneys, nerves, or heart.
Assessing toxicity is a central part of evaluating both medications and environmental substances, since a treatment's usefulness is generally weighed against the toxicity it may cause, particularly when higher doses are needed to achieve a therapeutic effect.
Used in a sentence
The medication's dose was adjusted after laboratory testing raised concern for toxicity affecting the kidneys.
Good to know
Toxicity is not a fixed property of a substance alone, since dose and duration of exposure largely determine whether and how severely a given substance causes harm.
Word origin
Where “toxicity” comes from
Formed from Greek toxikon, meaning poison, from toxon, meaning bow, an early reference to poison applied to arrows.