Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Tolerance or immunity to a poison acquired by taking gradually larger doses of it.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Immunity against the action of a poison acquired by taking the drug in constantly increasing doses: a method said to have been conceived by Mithridates to protect himself against palace intrigues.
Wiktionary
Etymologies
- From Mithridates (referring to Mithridates VI of Pontus) and -ism. First attested in 1851. (Wiktionary)
- After Mithridates VI, who is said to have acquired tolerance for poison. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The old notion as to "mithridatism" was that an animal or a man would have to be separately prepared and”
“I just ran into a nice word: mithridatism, named after Mithridates VI of Pontus, the phenomenon of partial immunity to poison acquired by taking small doses.”
“It's hard not to think of Iocane powder; but arsenic is a classic real example of a poison where mithridatism is possible, as with the (possibly exaggerated) Arsenic Eaters of Styria, 19th century Austrian peasants who habitually ate, as a tonic, normally lethal doses of arsenic.”
“This is the case of (relative) immunization or, as it is sometimes called, of mithridatism.”
“One of my personal favorites in this category is mithridatism”
“The question of whether proper names of people and places have a rightful place in a dictionary is probably an obsolete one: their presence was formerly justified on the grounds that as "words" they are far more frequent than many of the "legitimate" words, like elytron, greave, or mithridatism.”
“As it is, one has to read through it to find the good stuff, which is not a thrilling prospect, notwithstanding the fact that much worthwhile material is here, though one should take it in small quantities: mithridatism The act of taking poison in increasing doses as a means of building an immunity to it, as in the case of people who start out with talk shows and gradually work their way up to situation comedies.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mithridatism’.
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phrontistery - m
from phrontistery.info
multiloculate, multilocation, multiflorous, multifid, multifarious, multicipital, multeity, multarticulate, multanimous, mulse, mullock, mullion and 898 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 238 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 256 more...
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euphonic logorrhea
cephalopodous, plumulaceous, oblomovism, etiolation, pavonine, somnolent, logorrhea, fulguration, gossamer, prestidigitation, daffodil, inchoate and 174 more...
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bertilak's Words
antidisestablishm..., feldercarb, wainscoting, eleemosynary, oxymoron, fuliginous, libration, lammergeier, saxifrage, ichor, lambent, smaragdine and 414 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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As soon as I finish this chapter
x
procrastination, drily, rheumatism, rheum, suint, tiresome, wearisome, tiring, suboptimal, subpar, subprime, grange and 190 more...
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A few of my favorite definitions from...
I'm especially fond of ones written by Charles Sanders Peirce.
theodolite, illusion, buckie, frank, abstract-concrete, semidiagrammatic, object-object, vortex-filament, dod, parrock, cobler, weather-box and 354 more...
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Specific
philtrum, subitize, agelast, abderian, tyro, zenocratically, logorrhea, aceldama, micawber, foyer, hircine, losel and 95 more...
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nisovin's list
defenestrate, pleonasm, abscond, lethologica, mamihlapinatapai, obfuscation, ennui, portmanteau, neologism, sempiternal, syzygy, effervescent and 12 more...
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dreamstorm's Words
stillicide, detrimental, swedge, nictate, thaumaturge, lacuna, abscond, thanatognomonic, lambent, prestidigitate, lucubrate, prolix and 43 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mithridatism.

reesetee Thanks for the link, slumry! Nice to read a little poetry early in the morning. :-) Jul 26, 2007
slumry R, you inspire me to give this link to the full poem: http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/5194
I often think of lines from the poem, especially
"Ale man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think."
Victuals is a classic case of a word that a reader would be likely to mispronounce! Jul 26, 2007
reesetee Ha! Where I first heard the word victuals. :-) Jul 26, 2007
slumry Last stanza of "Terrence, this is Stupid Stuff" by A. E. Housman
There was a king reigned in the East:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all that sprang to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;
And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went round.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white’s their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.
—I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.
Jul 26, 2007
sionnach building up a gradual immunity to poison by taking increasingly large doses over a long period. The approach works only for a quite restricted class of poisons, so don't try this at home. Feb 16, 2007