pernicious synonyms

pernicious

modif.

harmful, deleterious, detrimental, noxious, baneful, damaging, prejudicial, ruinous, destructive, insidious, hurtful, malignant, sinister, virulent, deadly, fatal, lethal, poisonous, venomous, unwholesome; see also deadly 1, harmful, poisonous.

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 if by poisoning a baneful superstition; noxious refers to something that is injurious to physical or mental health noxious fumes; deleterious implies slower, less irreparable injury to the health the deleterious effects of an unbalanced diet; detrimental implies a causing of damage, loss, or disadvantage to something specified the speech was detrimental to our cause

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.