insidious

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Adjective 1.2.1 Related terms 1.2.2 Translations 1.3 References

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

< Latin insidiosus (“‘cunning, artful, deceitful’”) < insidiae (“‘a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, strategem’”) < insidere (“‘literally to sit in or upon’”) < in (“‘in, on’”) + sedere (“‘to sit’”); see session.

[edit] Adjective

insidious (comparative more insidious, superlative most insidious)

1. Producing serious harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.

   He was unaware that an insidious cancer was consuming him.

2. Intending to entrap.

   Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch's insidious gingerbread house.

3. Treacherous.

   The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors.

4. (medicine) Describing a disease which worsens with few or no symptoms to signal its gravity.
5. (medicine) Describing a disease with subtle or gradual onset. Patients with insidious diseases oftentimes cannot point out a time when the symptoms began.

[edit] Related terms

• insidiously
• insidiousness

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• insidious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• insidious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• “insidious” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.