potassium cyanide
noun
: a very poisonous crystalline salt KCN used especially in gold and silver extraction from ore
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web McLemore killed himself while the podcast was still in production, drinking potassium cyanide in 2015. 
Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2022 Officials bought potassium cyanide instead of sodium cyanide. Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 11 May 2022 According to The Guardian, the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry bought potassium cyanide, sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid to generate the deadly gas. Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 6 June 2021 In a 1982 episode that became a textbook example of how to manage a corporate crisis, the company had to scramble after someone tampered with capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, turning them lethal with potassium cyanide and killing seven people. New York Times, 12 Nov. 2021 Both sodium and potassium cyanide are solid salt compounds that can be dissolved in water. Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 6 June 2021 On the afternoon of December 6, 1885, Adams returned home from the dentist and found Clover dead, a vial of potassium cyanide, one of her darkroom chemicals, drained beside her. Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020 And in 1978, potassium cyanide was mixed into fruit punch in the Jonestown mass murder-suicide in Guyana. Meg Neal, Popular Mechanics, 4 Oct. 2020 Seconds after an appeals judge confirmed his 20-year sentence for war crimes during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Praljak proclaimed his innocence and then drank from a small bottle containing potassium cyanide. Pan Pylas, Star Tribune, 24 Sep. 2020 See More
Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2022 Officials bought potassium cyanide instead of sodium cyanide. Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 11 May 2022 According to The Guardian, the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry bought potassium cyanide, sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid to generate the deadly gas. Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 6 June 2021 In a 1982 episode that became a textbook example of how to manage a corporate crisis, the company had to scramble after someone tampered with capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, turning them lethal with potassium cyanide and killing seven people. New York Times, 12 Nov. 2021 Both sodium and potassium cyanide are solid salt compounds that can be dissolved in water. Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 6 June 2021 On the afternoon of December 6, 1885, Adams returned home from the dentist and found Clover dead, a vial of potassium cyanide, one of her darkroom chemicals, drained beside her. Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020 And in 1978, potassium cyanide was mixed into fruit punch in the Jonestown mass murder-suicide in Guyana. Meg Neal, Popular Mechanics, 4 Oct. 2020 Seconds after an appeals judge confirmed his 20-year sentence for war crimes during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Praljak proclaimed his innocence and then drank from a small bottle containing potassium cyanide. Pan Pylas, Star Tribune, 24 Sep. 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
1866, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
potassium cyanide
noun
: a very poisonous crystalline salt KCN