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Pernicious vs Lethal - What's the difference?

pernicious | lethal |

As adjectives the difference between pernicious and lethal

is that pernicious is causing much harm in a subtle way while lethal is deadly; mortal; fatal.

As a noun lethal is

one of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.

pernicious

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Causing much harm in a subtle way.
  • * 1911 , ,
    • 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.
  • Causing death or injury; deadly.

    • Synonyms

    * (l)

    Related terms

    * pernicious anaemia

    Derived terms

    * perniciousness * perniciously

    Anagrams

    *

    lethal

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Deadly; mortal; fatal.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}
    Related terms
    * lethality * semilethal

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.

    Noun

    (-)
  • (chemistry) One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.

    • External links

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