Dictionary

pernicious en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /pəˈnɪʃəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /pɚˈnɪʃəs/ (General-American)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. Causing much harm in a subtle way.
   • The weed has a pernicious influence on local crops.
   • 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. 1911, Emma Goldman, “The Hypocrisy of Puritanism”, in Anarchism and Other Essays:
   • 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. 2019 July 9, Toni Bentley, “What Do the Sex Lives of ‘Three Women’ Tell Us About Female Desire?”, in New York Times:
   • Ang. Belieue me on mine Honor, My words expreſſe my purpoſe. Iſa. Ha? Little honor, to be much beleeu'd, And moſt pernitious purpoſe: Seeming, ſeeming. I will proclaime thee Angelo, looke for't. c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 70, column 1:
   • They warned of the pernicious effects of misinformation.
   • pernicious influence
   • pernicious effects
   • 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. 2017 March 22, Jacob Kastrenakes, “Medium launches memberships for $5 per month”, in The Verge:
   • […]her health also having suffered by the change, she immediately, when told of Douglas's projected departure from India, felt the strongest desire to accompany him; and to which Colonel Melbourne the more readily consented, having with reluctance yielded to her request of quitting England, willing as he had been to sacrifice the enjoyment of her society rather than that she should submit to the disadvantages attendant upon a residence in a clime usually found so pernicious to the female constitution. 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XVIII, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 231:
2. Causing death or injury; deadly.
3. (of a person) Insidiously villainous: intending to cause harm, especially in a subtle way.

Forms

Deriveds

antipernicious · pernicious anemia · perniciousness · perniciously · pernicious scale

Synonyms

deleterious · venom · attery

Translations (79)

tr muzır (causing much harm) · el θανατηφόρος (causing death or injury) · sh poguban (causing death or injury) · hi नाशक (causing death or injury) · bg ги́белен (causing death or injury) · ka საზიანო (causing much harm) · mk погубен (causing death or injury) · fr nocif (causing much harm) · de bösartig (causing much harm) · de perniziös (causing much harm) · la perniciosus (causing much harm) · tr ölümcül (causing death or injury) · fr délétère (causing death or injury) · fr nocif (causing death or injury) · de verderblich (causing much harm) · pl groźny (causing much harm) · el ολέθριος (causing death or injury) · ka მავნე (causing much harm) · el ολέθριος (causing much harm) · pt mórbido (causing death or injury) · nl verderfelijk (causing much harm) · pl zgubny (causing much harm) · fr pernicieux (causing much harm) · cmn 致命 (causing death or injury) · tr zararlı (causing much harm) · da fordærvelig (causing much harm) · nb fordervelig (causing much harm) · nl destructief (causing much harm) · sh štetan (causing much harm) · ru вре́дный (causing death or injury) · pl szkodliwy (causing much harm) · ru зловредный (causing much harm) · fi turmiollinen (causing much harm) · fi tuhoisa (causing much harm) · pt pernicioso (causing much harm) · bg па́губен (causing death or injury) · uk згубний (causing much harm) · nl schadelijk (causing death or injury) · uk шкідливий (causing much harm) · de schädlich (causing much harm) · ro vătămător (causing death or injury) · fi tappava (causing death or injury) · ru па́губный (causing much harm) · fi haitallinen (causing much harm) · ro pernicios (causing much harm) · ja 致命的な (causing death or injury) · bg па́губен (causing much harm) · fr malsain (causing much harm) · de perniziös (causing death or injury) · nl schadelijk (causing much harm) · fr dangereux (causing death or injury) · ru тлетво́рный (causing much harm) · ro vătămător (causing much harm) · ru ги́бельный (causing death or injury) · hu veszedelmes (causing death or injury) · cmn 有害 (causing much harm) · tr pernisiyöz (causing death or injury) · ka მაწყინარი (causing much harm) · sv fördärvlig (causing much harm) · tr pernisiyöz (causing much harm) · gd sgriosail (causing much harm) · hu ártalmas (causing much harm) · es pernicioso (causing much harm) · mi whakawhara (causing death or injury) · fr nuisible (causing death or injury) · ja 有害な (causing much harm) · mi whakamōrearea (causing death or injury) · es pernicioso (causing death or injury) · mk погубен (causing much harm) · ro pernicios (causing death or injury) · de tödlich (causing death or injury) · nl dodelijk (causing death or injury) · tr habis (causing much harm) · ro dăunător (causing death or injury) · it pernicioso (causing much harm) · pl zgubny (causing death or injury) · ro dăunător (causing much harm) · hi नाशक (causing much harm) · ka მავნებელი (causing much harm)

pernicious en · ADJ · etymology 2

Etymology

Analyzable as pernīx ("swift") + -ious.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) swift; celeritous.

Forms

Relateds

pernicity