lethality
Americannoun
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the capacity to cause great harm, destruction, or death.
Many pathogens are self-limited by their own lethality—the host dies before it has a chance to spread the pathogen.
-
the likelihood of causing great harm, destruction, or death.
Mutations can increase or decrease lethality, but most viruses mutate to less lethal forms.
-
death.
Prion diseases, such as so-called “mad cow,” are characterized by neurodegeneration and lethality.
Etymology
Origin of lethality
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Every dollar appropriated, he added, would be used to build the "lethality" of US military forces and "reinforce peace through strength".
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
“Lynx eyes” evoke lethality; mischievous boys are “lynxes that nothing escapes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
That surge in lethality underscores the potency of the high-tech but cheaply made drones.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
"This strain has a very high lethality rate, which can reach 50 percent."
From Barron's ● May 17, 2026
His face was sphinx-like in its immobility but the cold lethality of his eyes was apparent even to the inexperienced tenderfoot, who was growing strangely uncomfortable for some indefinable reason.
From The Song of the Wolf by Frank Mayer
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
