pernicious
causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful: pernicious teachings;a pernicious lie.
deadly; fatal: a pernicious disease.
Obsolete. evil; wicked.
Origin of pernicious
1Other words for pernicious
Other words from pernicious
- per·ni·cious·ly, adverb
- per·ni·cious·ness, noun
- un·per·ni·cious, adjective
- un·per·ni·cious·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pernicious in a sentence
Yet these masters at evading far larger animals face a threat more pernicious than predation today.
We Crush, Poison, and Destroy Insects at Our Own Peril - Issue 95: Escape | John Hainze | January 20, 2021 | NautilusIn fact, social media platforms often host content that is far more pernicious than that of their fellow, unprotected electronic publishers.
Now is not the time to repeal Section 230, but it should be soon | jakemeth | December 30, 2020 | FortuneIn his famous jeremiad against hackneyed political rhetoric, Orwell pointed to a pernicious cycle.
Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Archer’ aims for profundity but misses | Ron Charles | November 11, 2020 | Washington PostFour of the most common and pernicious groups and their toxic effects are listed below.
Cheap, innovative venom treatments could save tens of thousands of snakebite victims | Christie Wilcox | September 19, 2020 | Science NewsNot long ago, polite society had only begun to tolerate slamming the Electoral College as a perniciously quaint old institution.
He did both these things, poor man, for it was his rôle in life always to say and do the perniciously obvious.
The Halo | Bettina von HuttenThou hast devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church, and thou hast been guilty of the sin of preaching.
The Coming of the King | James HockingThese two things mutually and perniciously complete and assist each other.
Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2) | Alexis de ToquevilleIn the case of truth, untrue beliefs work as perniciously in the long run as true beliefs work beneficially.
Pragmatism | William JamesCertain physiological processes come to have for him an unclean flavour which is yet perniciously attractive.
The Nervous Child | Hector Charles Cameron
British Dictionary definitions for pernicious
/ (pəˈnɪʃəs) /
wicked or malicious: pernicious lies
causing grave harm; deadly
Origin of pernicious
1Derived forms of pernicious
- perniciously, adverb
- perniciousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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