Definition of "parathion" [parathion]

• A highly poisonous yellowish liquid insecticide, C8H10NO5PS. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "* After the ban, it was replaced by parathion, which is really unsafe."
• "So for example the pesticides made of organophosphates (parathion and malathion) and organochlorides (such as DDT) permanently deactivate an enzyme that is essential to the nervous system."
• "Unfortunately, this made no difference to EPA, which failed to ban the microencapsulated parathion that is so deadly to honeybees. '"