insidious

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“
Crack is insidious, a short time high, and a long time longing.

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner: insidious rumors; an insidious disease.
  2. adjective Intended to entrap; treacherous: insidious misinformation.
  3. adjective Beguiling but harmful; alluring: insidious pleasures.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • The most insidious was a can of eyeballs staring out at him. —  Piers Anthony - [Xanth 29] - Pet Peeve (2005)
  • Instead, they're more insidious -- the sorts of people we recognize as neighbors, or even in parts of ourselves, who allow their greed and self-centeredness to get in the way of common decency, or morality. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 06 - December 1999
  • It can be delicate and insidious, as well as brutal. —  BlackStaticHorrorMagazine#2
  • The work was inflaming and insidious, as it was beautiful. —  Aurelian or, Rome in the Third Century
  • Other ingenious, insidious, and personal objections were urged. —  Benjamin Franklin
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Latin īnsidiōsus, from īnsidiae, ambush, from īnsidēre, to sit upon, lie in wait for : in-, in, on; see in-2 + sedēre, to sit; see sed- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French insidieux = Spanish Portuguese Italian insidioso, from Latin insidiosus, cunning, artful, deceitful, from insidiœ, a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, stratagem, from insidere, literally sit in or upon: see insession.
 

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/ɪnˈsɪdɪəs/
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