pernicious

CEFRC1

/pəˈnɪʃəs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Very harmful, especially in a gradual or hidden way.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Causing death or injury; deadly.

Examples

  • I think that the romantic myth is one of the most pernicious of our times.

  • Pervasive and pernicious deviations from both fact and logical validity lurked behind a meretricious plausibility.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings
  1. Insidiously villainous: intending to cause harm, especially in a subtle way.

  2. Causing much harm in a subtle way.

  3. swift; celeritous.

More examples

In context
  • They warned of the pernicious effects of misinformation.

  • pernicious effects

  • pernicious influence

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank effects of air pollution include lung damage and heart disease.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus (“destructive”), from perniciēs (“destruction”), from per (“through”) + nex (“slaughter, death”).