Insidious  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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1. Producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
   • 1847, George Lippard, The Quaker City: or, The monks of Monk-Hall

     Strong and vigorous man as he looks, Livingstone has been for years the victim of a secret and insidious disease.

   • 1997, Matthew Wood, The book of herbal wisdom: using plants as medicine

     At some point in time they may become the source of an insidious cancer.

   • 2007, Sharon Weinstein, Ada Lawrence Plumer, Principles and practice of intravenous therapy

     The nurse always must be alert to signs of slow leak or insidious infiltration.

2. Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.
   • 1948, D.V. Chitaley (editor or publisher), All India Reporter, volume 3, page 341:

     All these facts clearly appear to me now to establish that the sanctioned scheme was a part of a bigger and […] more insidious scheme which was to hoodwink the creditors and to firmly establish and consolidate the position […]

   • 1969, Dorothy Brewster, John Angus Burrell, Dead reckonings in fiction

     The atmosphere of this insidious city comes out to meet him the moment he touches the European shore; for in London he meets Maria Gostrey just over from France.

   • 2005, Anita Desai, Voices in the City, page 189:

     This seemed to her the worst defilement into which this insidious city had cheated her and in her agitation, she nearly ran into the latrine, […]

   • 2007, Joseph Epstein, Narcissus Leaves the Pool, page 171:

     This is the insidious way sports entrap you: you follow a player, which commits you to his team. You begin to acquire scraps of utterly useless information about teammates, managers, owners, trainers, agents, lawyers.

   Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.

3. Template:Nonstandard Treacherous.
   • 1858, Phineas Camp Headley, The life of the Empress Josephine: first wife of Napoleon

     But with whom do you contract that alliance? With the natural enemy of France — that insidious house of Austria — which detests our country from feeling, system, and necessity.

   • 1912, Ralph Straus, The prison without a wall

     ‘Believe me,’ he shouted, ‘these insidious folk talk dangerous nonsense. I hear they are spouting out their ridiculous platitudes not five miles from this park in which we are standing…’

   The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors.