pernicious
[ per-nish-uhs ]
/ pərˈnɪʃ əs /
adjective
causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful: pernicious teachings; a pernicious lie.
deadly; fatal: a pernicious disease.
Obsolete. evil; wicked.
OTHER WORDS FOR pernicious
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Origin of pernicious
1515–25; <Latin
perniciōsus ruinous, equivalent to
pernici(
ēs) ruin (
per-per- +
-nici-, combining form of
nex death, murder (stem
nec-) +
-iēs noun suffix) +
-ōsus-ousOTHER WORDS FROM pernicious
per·ni·cious·ly, adverbper·ni·cious·ness, nounun·per·ni·cious, adjectiveun·per·ni·cious·ly, adverbDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to pernicious
damaging,
dangerous,
deadly,
destructive,
detrimental,
devastating,
harmful,
lethal,
malicious,
nefarious,
noxious,
poisonous,
ruinous,
toxic,
virulent,
baleful,
deleterious,
evil,
fatal,
iniquitous How to use pernicious in a sentence
Yet these masters at evading far larger animals face a threat more pernicious than predation today.
In fact, social media platforms often host content that is far more pernicious than that of their fellow, unprotected electronic publishers.
In his famous jeremiad against hackneyed political rhetoric, Orwell pointed to a pernicious cycle.
Four of the most common and pernicious groups and their toxic effects are listed below.
Not 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.
Thou hast devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church, and thou hast been guilty of the sin of preaching.
These two things mutually and perniciously complete and assist each other.
In the case of truth, untrue beliefs work as perniciously in the long run as true beliefs work beneficially.
Certain physiological processes come to have for him an unclean flavour which is yet perniciously attractive.
British Dictionary definitions for pernicious
adjective
wicked or maliciouspernicious lies
causing grave harm; deadly
Derived forms of pernicious
perniciously, adverbperniciousness, nounWord Origin for pernicious
C16: from Latin perniciōsus, from perniciēs ruin, from per- (intensive) + nex death
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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