Serpentine vs Insidious - What's the difference?
serpentine | insidious |
Sinuous; curving in alternate directions.
Having the shape or form of a snake.
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of snakes.
Of, or having attributes associated with, the mythological serpent, such as craftiness or deceitfulness.
Any of several plants believed to cure snakebites.
An early form of cannon.
A coiled distillation tube.
(maths) Any of several related cubic curves; anguinea
(archaic) To serpentize; to turn or bend; to meander.
* Lord Lyttelton
(geology, botany) Of or characteristic of serpentine rocks or the plants that grow there.
(label) Any of several green/brown minerals consisting of a magnesium and iron silicates that have similar layered crystal structure.
(geology) An outcrop or region with soil and rock dominated by these minerals.
Producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
* 1847 , George Lippard, The Quaker City: or, The monks of Monk-Hall
* 1997 , Matthew Wood, The book of herbal wisdom: using plants as medicine
* 2007 , Sharon Weinstein, Ada Lawrence Plumer, Principles and practice of intravenous therapy
Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.
* Nathaniel Hawthorne
* 1948 , D.V. Chitaley (editor or publisher), All India Reporter , volume 3, page 341:
* 1969 , Dorothy Brewster, John Angus Burrell, Dead reckonings in fiction
* 2005 , Anita Desai, Voices in the City , page 189:
* 2007 , Joseph Epstein, Narcissus Leaves the Pool , page 171:
(nonstandard) Treacherous.
* 1858 , Phineas Camp Headley, The life of the Empress Josephine: first wife of Napoleon
* 1912 , Ralph Straus, The prison without a wall
As a proper noun serpentine
is the lake in hyde park, london or serpentine can be a name given to several rivers in alaska, australia, canada and new zealand .As an adjective insidious is
producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.serpentine
English
(wikipedia serpentine)Etymology 1
From (etyl) serpentin, from (etyl) .Adjective
(en adjective)- The serpentine path through the mountains was narrow and dangerous.
- There are serpentine species of lizards which do not have legs.
- The wily criminal was known for his serpentine behavior.
Synonyms
* : sinuous, tortuous, winding * (having the form of a snake): ophidianNoun
(en noun)Verb
(serpentin)- There were two little lakes, or rather large pools which stood in the bottom, whence issued a rivulet which serpentined in view for two or three miles, offering a pleasing relief to the eye.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) serpentine, from resemblance to a serpent's skin.Adjective
(en adjective)Noun
(en noun)Hyponyms
* (mineral) antigorite, chrysotile, lizardite ----insidious
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Strong and vigorous man as he looks, Livingstone has been for years the victim of a secret and insidious disease.
- At some point in time they may become the source of an insidious cancer.
- The nurse always must be alert to signs of slow leak or insidious infiltration.
- The insidious whisper of the bad angel.
- 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 […]
- 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.
- 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, […]
- 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.
- 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.
- ‘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.