poison pill

noun

: a financial tactic or provision used by a company to make an unwanted takeover prohibitively expensive or less desirable

Examples of poison pill in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Ethan risks his life in a mid-air scramble with Gabriel (Esai Morales), a terrorist who works with The Entity, to obtain the poison pill, a virus that Luther (Ving Rhames) created to infect the A.I. James Grebey, Vulture, 23 May 2025 After hijacking one plane and climbing aboard Gabriel’s, Ethan manages to take back the poison pill and unite it with the source code module. Jordan Moreau, Variety, 23 May 2025 What would be the point of trying mere trigger-pullers, when the masterminds had already bit down on poison pills, swung from the noose or been locked away? Henry Leutwyler Robert Petkoff Emma Kehlbeck Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 20 May 2025 Shares of the company got a little boost from the interest signaled by the poison pill and gained 3.2 percent to $23.51 in premarket trading on Tuesday. Evan Clark, Footwear News, 20 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for poison pill

Word History

First Known Use

1983, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of poison pill was in 1983

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Cite this Entry

“Poison pill.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poison%20pill. Accessed 8 Jun. 2025.

Legal Definition

poison pill

noun
poi·​son pill
: a financial tactic or provision used by a company to make an unwanted takeover prohibitively expensive or less desirable
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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