per·ni·cious (p r-n sh s)
adj.
1.
a. Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly: a pernicious virus.
b. Causing great harm; destructive: pernicious rumors.
2. Archaic Evil; wicked.
[Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin pernici
 sus, from pernici s, destruction : per-, per- +nex, nec-, violent death; see nek-1 in Indo-European roots.]
per·ni
cious·ly adv.
per·ni
cious·ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published byHoughton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Hayden seems kind and calm, but harass him with pernicious insults and he might swat you: just ask the third grader who got what was coming to him on the school bus when Hayden was in kindergarten.
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