pernicious
English
Etymology
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From Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus (“destructive”), from perniciēs (“destruction”), from per (“through”) + nex (“slaughter, death”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
pernicious (comparative more pernicious, superlative most pernicious)
- Causing much harm in a subtle way.
- 1911, Emma Goldman, The Hypocrisy of Puritanism
- Puritanism no longer employs the thumbscrew and lash; but it still has a most pernicious hold on the minds and feelings of the American people.
- 2017 March 22, Jacob Kastrenakes, “Medium launches memberships for $5 per month”, in The Verge[1]:
- In January, the company laid off a third of its staff and renounced ads as a pernicious influence on the world, without mentioning that Google and Facebook are so good at ads there’s hardly room for anyone else to compete.
- 2019 July 9, Toni Bentley, “What Do the Sex Lives of ‘Three Women’ Tell Us About Female Desire?”, in New York Times[2]:
- A man has always been a woman’s best excuse to avoid her destiny; that a man is her destiny is one of patriarchy’s most pernicious tenets. What a scam.
- 1911, Emma Goldman, The Hypocrisy of Puritanism
- Causing death or injury; deadly.
- Synonym: attery
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
causing much harm
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causing death or injury
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Anagrams
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