avvelenare

to poison

verb ahv-veh-leh-NAH-reh Rare

Also means

to contaminate, to embitter

Usage Note

Avvelenare takes avere as its auxiliary. It can be used literally (il veleno avvelena il corpo) or figuratively to mean souring a relationship or atmosphere: quella lite ha avvelenato i rapporti. The reflexive avvelenarsi means to poison oneself or to be embittered.

Examples

"Il fungo velenoso ha avvelenato il cane."

Natural Translation

The poisonous mushroom poisoned the dog.

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