STAFF at the Oxford English Dictionary have picked ‘toxic’ as their word of the year for 2018.

Defined as ‘poisonous’ and with its origins in Greek (toxikon pharmakon, meaning ‘poison for arrows’), the word toxic has become an intoxicating descriptor for the year’s most talked about topics.

According to OED staff at Oxford University Press in Walton Street, the word ‘toxic’ has been ever-present in discussions about the health of communities and our environment with ‘toxic substance’, ‘toxic gas’, ‘toxic environment’, ‘toxic waste’, ‘toxic algae,’ and ‘toxic air’ appearing.

Even ‘toxic slime’ has made the headlines – not to mention the continued discussion around the toxicity of plastics.

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries, said: “Reviewing this year in language we repeatedly encountered the word ‘toxic’ being used to describe an increasing set of conditions that we’re all facing.

“Qualifying everything from the entrenched patriarchy to the constant blare of polarising political rhetoric, ‘toxic’ seems to reflect a growing sense of how extreme we feel aspects of modern life have become.”

The #MeToo movement has shone a spotlight on ‘toxic masculinity’ while the word has also been applied to Brexit.