perniciousness
- noun
- /pərˈnɪʃəsnəs/
- Formal
- The perniciousness of misinformation can lead to serious consequences for society.
Examples
-
Yet somehow, he considers that a historic blow against the perniciousness of "freedom of choice," whatever that means, which, to be honest, I don't.
Blog text (31) -
Although Lee makes passing reference to anti-radicalism in immigration policy, in my opinion, the persistence and perniciousness
Academic text (1999) -
The doctor warned us about the perniciousness of smoking and its effects on health.
-
The report highlighted the perniciousness of environmental pollution on wildlife.
Synonyms
Something that slowly harms people or a group, for example hate
How poisonous a substance is to people or animals
A tendency to cause damage to people or things
The chance that something will harm people or property
How much something can hurt people, animals, or things
The quality of being harmful in a slow, hidden way that is hard to notice
A harmful effect that slowly damages people or groups
How harmful or poisonous something is
A very harmful and cruel way of being that hurts other people
A quality that makes something able to kill people or animals
A look or feeling that seems threatening
A state that is likely to cause great damage
A situation likely to cause harm or injury
Antonyms
How Harmful
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
perniciousness = pernicious (transparent) = pernicious + ness
Forming the noun from the adjective 'pernicious' with the productive suffix '-ness' yields the predictable meaning 'the state or quality of being pernicious'.
Etymology
Perniciousness comes from Latin parts per- meaning 'completely' and -nic- from a word for 'kill' or 'destruction'. That's why perniciousness describes something that is very harmful or deadly.