envenom

Still, an ascent by Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler, to a ministerial role would further envenom Israel's standoff with the Palestinians and strain its internal Jewish-Arab ties.

From Reuters ● Oct. 18, 2022

Ahead as well lay the uncertain prospect of American casualties -- losses that could further envenom what was already a passionate post-cold war debate.

From Time Magazine Archive

I feel moved to say bitter things—to shoot darts in defiance at every glance—to envenom every sentence which I speak.

From Confession, or, the Blind Heart; a Domestic Story by William Gilmore Simms

To all the passions which usually envenom contests among countrymen, avarice was added, and rendered their enmity more rancorous.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05 Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time by Robert Kerr

Offences are likely to arise in the present world; but let us rather aim to disarm malignity by conciliation, than strengthen and envenom it by resistance.

From Female Scripture Biographies, Volume II by Francis Augustus Cox