Pernicious  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Wikipedia Wiktionary Tumblr Wikisource YouTube Shop Featured: A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933)

1. Causing death or injury; deadly.
2. Causing much harm in a subtle way.
   • 1911, Emma Goldman, The Hypocrisy of Puritanism,

     Puritanism no longer employs the thumbscrew and lash; but it still has a most pernicious hold on the minds and feelings of the American people.

Related terms

• pernicious anaemia