pernicious

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“
It is time to undertake the reform of what I call a pernicious prejudice.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly: a pernicious virus.
  2. adjective Causing great harm; destructive: pernicious rumors.
  3. adjective Archaic Evil; wicked.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples

  • He showed that the plan of education was really pernicious, and far from being calculated to fulfil the object which every wise government must have in view. —  The Memoirs of Napoleon
  • It is time to undertake the reform of what I call a pernicious prejudice. —  The Duchess of Berry and the Court of Charles X
  • In that direction, he could see nothing but a “milking of the bull” — a fruitless or rather a pernicious waste of intellect. —  Samuel Johnson
  • "Looks like it's too late for that." —  Jed the Dead
  • "prerogative" revenue from what he termed a pernicious weed, and against which he had published his _Counterblast_; but he was restrained from this illegal measure by a resolution of the House of Commons. —  The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11
 

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Pernicious has been looked up 851 times, favorited 4 times, listed 147 times, and commented on 5 times.

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus, from perniciēs, destruction : per-, per- + nex, nec-, violent death; see nek-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from French pernicieux = Spanish Portuguese pernicioso = Italian pernizioso, pernicioso, from Latin perniciosus, destructive, from pernicies, destruction (cf. Late Latin pernecare, destroy), from per, through, + nex (nec-), slaughter, death. Cf. internecine.
  2. After pernicious, from Latin pernix (pernic-), quick (from per, through, + niti, strive), + -ous.
 

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/pərˈnɪʃəs/
by American Heritage

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