lethal
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Learned borrowing from Latin lētālis (“deadly, mortal, fatal”), improperly written lēthālis, from lētum (“death”), improperly written as lēthum, from a supposed connection with Ancient Greek λήθη (lḗthē, “oblivion, forgetfulness”).
Adjective[edit]
lethal (comparative more lethal, superlative most lethal)
- Of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal.
- 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
- Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal
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Noun[edit]
lethal (plural lethals)
- Any weapon that causes death.
- Antonym: non-lethal
- (genetics) An allele that causes the death of the organism that carries it.
Etymology 2[edit]
Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.
Noun[edit]
lethal (uncountable)
- (chemistry) One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.
Translations[edit]
alcohol
Further reading[edit]
- “lethal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “lethal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Categories:
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- Rhymes:English/iːθəl
- Rhymes:English/iːθəl/2 syllables
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English lemmas
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- en:Genetics
- English uncountable nouns
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- en:Death