insidious

English

Etymology

From Latin īnsidiōsus (“cunning, artful, deceitful”), from īnsidiae (“a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, stratagem”) + -ōsus, from īnsideō (“to sit in or on”), from in (“in, on”) + sedeō (“to sit”).

Adjective

insidious (comparative more insidious, superlative most insidious)

1. Producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
   • 1847, George Lippard, The Quaker City: or, The monks of Monk-Hall

     Strong and vigorous man as he looks, Livingstone has been for years the victim of a secret and insidious disease.

   • 1997, Matthew Wood, The book of herbal wisdom: using plants as medicine

     At some point in time they may become the source of an insidious cancer.

   • 2007, Sharon Weinstein, Ada Lawrence Plumer, Principles and practice of intravenous therapy

     The nurse always must be alert to signs of slow leak or insidious infiltration.

2. Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful
   • 1948, D.V. Chitaley (editor or publisher), All India Reporter, volume 3, page 341:

     All these facts clearly appear to me now to establish that the sanctioned scheme was a part of a bigger and [...] more insidious scheme which was to hoodwink the creditors and to firmly establish and consolidate the position [...]

   • 1969, Dorothy Brewster, John Angus Burrell, Dead reckonings in fiction

     The atmosphere of this insidious city comes out to meet him the moment he touches the European shore; for in London he meets Maria Gostrey just over from France.

   • 2005, Anita Desai, Voices in the City, page 189:

     This seemed to her the worst defilement into which this insidious city had cheated her and in her agitation, she nearly ran into the latrine, [...]

   • 2007, Joseph Epstein, Narcissus Leaves the Pool, page 171:

     This is the insidious way sports entrap you: you follow a player, which commits you to his team. You begin to acquire scraps of utterly useless information about teammates, managers, owners, trainers, agents, lawyers.

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

3. Treacherous.
   • 1858, Phineas Camp Headley, The life of the Empress Josephine: first wife of Napoleon

     But with whom do you contract that alliance? With the natural enemy of France — that insidious house of Austria — which detests our country from feeling, system, and necessity.

   • 1912, Ralph Straus, The prison without a wall

     'Believe me,' he shouted, 'these insidious folk talk dangerous nonsense. I hear they are spouting out their ridiculous platitudes not five miles from this park in which we are standing...'

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

Derived terms

• insidiously
• insidiousness

Translations

producing serious harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner

Dutch: sluipend (nl) Finnish: salakavala (fi) French: insidieux (fr)

Romanian: insidios (ro) Russian: скрытый

intending to entrap

Finnish: juonikas (fi), salakavala (fi)

treacherous — see treacherous

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.