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PERNICIOUS definition: 1. having a very harmful effect or influence: 2. having a very harmful effect or influence: 3…. Learn more.
Its original meaning in English, “highly injurious or destructive,” usually applies to things (“pernicious apathy,” “pernicious effects”) and medical conditions (“pernicious fever,” “pernicious anemia”). When applied to people, pernicious means “wicked.”
Add to word list. having a very harmful effect or influence: The cuts in government funding have had a pernicious effect on local health services. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Dangerous and harmful. adverse. adverse conditions. adverse effect.
Pernicious definition: causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful. See examples of PERNICIOUS used in a sentence.
SYNONYMY NOTE: pernicious applies to that which does great harm by insidiously undermining or weakening [pernicious anemia, a pernicious dogma]; baneful implies a harming by or as by poisoning [a baneful superstition]; noxious refers to anything that is injurious to physical or mental health [noxious fumes]; deleterious implies slower, less ...
pernicious. adjective. formal uk / pəˈnɪʃəs / us. Add to word list. Add to word list. very harmful. (Definition of pernicious from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Pernicious means harmful and subtle, such as a poison gas that causes illness in those exposed to it over the course of years.
