lethal
lethal
Definition
le·thal (lē′t̸həl)
adjective
causing or capable of causing death; fatal or deadly
Etymology: L letalis, lethalis < letum, death: see let
le′·thal′·ity (-t̸hal′i tē) noun
le′·thally adverb
lethal
Synonyms
lethal
modif.
lethal
Usage Examples
Adjective complement with noun phrase
- make: The researchers ' next step was to make this peptide lethal by attaching it to another peptide that promoted cell suicide.
Modifies a noun
- injection: They are due to be killed by lethal injection in a few weeks time.
- dose: The lethal dose is some 40,000 times the average dose for a high; there have been no cannabis deaths.
- cocktail: The focus of the concern is on two of the chemicals that make up the lethal cocktail used for execution in most states.
- toxin: Kahn found high levels of lethal toxins in Frost's fatty tissue.
- weapon: The US army has put a lethal weapon into the hands of its enemies.
- poison: Like the terrain around the Upas tree No Man's Land was scourged, swept incessantly by fire and lethal poisons.
Modifying Another Word
- potentially: The aim is to prevent potentially lethal weapons falling into the hands of children.
- possibly: It also concentrates heat in one area with possibly lethal consequences for the pulp.
- sometimes: This is the best way to catch malaria, a sometimes lethal disease which has not ceased to be omnipresent in Ivory Coast.
- highly: Unbeknownst to either of them, a killer had dropped a highly lethal addition into Harriet's cold drink.
- particularly: ABERDEEN 19 Jul 2006 The roundabouts in Aberdeen are particularly lethal today, be safe Update - 19 Jul 2006 What!
- pretty: It's a pretty lethal weapon in inexperienced hands.
Used with adjective complement
- prove: In the wrong hands these can also prove lethal.
- remain: The standoff between India and Pakistan over who owns the mountainous Kashmir region remains lethal.
- become: Should it aggravate a disorder, it becomes lethal.
- look: He looks lethal whenever he has the ball at the moment.
- turn: At the end of that adaptation period, it turns lethal.
Preposition: in
- hand: In the past distress flares, which can be lethal in the wrong hands, have been taken.
Preposition: of
- weapon: Wrong spiritual teaching, false religion is the most lethal of all terrorist weapons.
Browse dictionary entries near lethal
- lethal gene
- lethal injection
- lethargic
- lethargize
- lethargy
- Lethbridge
- Lethe
- Letitia
- Lett
- letted
