| / English Dictionary |
DEADLY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: deadlier , deadliest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of a disease) having a rapid course and violent effect
Classified under:
Similar:
virulent (infectious; having the ability to cause disease)
Derivation:
deadliness (the quality of being deadly)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Causing or capable of causing death
Example:
a mortal illness
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
fatal (bringing death)
Derivation:
deadliness (the quality of being deadly)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of an instrument of certain death
Example:
a lethal injection
Synonyms:
deadly; lethal
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
fatal (bringing death)
Derivation:
deadliness (the quality of being deadly)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Exceedingly harmful
Synonyms:
baneful; deadly; pernicious; pestilent
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
noxious (injurious to physical or mental health)
Derivation:
deadliness (the quality of being deadly)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Involving loss of divine grace or spiritual death
Example:
the seven deadly sins
Synonyms:
deadly; mortal
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unpardonable (not admitting of pardon)
Domain category:
divinity; theology (the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth)
Derivation:
deadliness (the quality of being deadly)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom
Example:
a virulent insect bite
Synonyms:
deadly; venomous; virulent
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
toxic (of or relating to or caused by a toxin or poison)
Derivation:
deadliness (the quality of being deadly)
II. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(used as intensives) extremely
Example:
insanely jealous
Synonyms:
deadly; deucedly; devilishly; insanely; madly
Classified under:
Domain usage:
intensifier; intensive (a modifier that has little meaning except to intensify the meaning it modifies)
Sense 2
Meaning:
As if dead
Synonyms:
deadly; lifelessly
Classified under:
Pertainym:
dead (not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life; no longer exerting force or having energy or heat)
Context examples:
Bacterial meningitis is rare, but can be deadly.
(Meningitis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
However, these approaches can leave the body vulnerable to deadly infections.
(Approach targets autoimmunity, NIH)
Experiments in the study revealed that after just one exposure to the chytrid fungus, frogs learned to avoid the deadly pathogen.
(Amphibians can acquire resistance to deadly fungus, NSF)
Bushfires are a common and deadly threat in Australia's hot, dry summers, fueled by highly flammable eucalyptus trees.
(Australian Wildfires Destroy Homes, Kill Cattle as Hundreds of People Flee, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
For most living things, arsenic is a deadly poison, but new research shows that microorganisms are breathing arsenic in a large area of the Pacific Ocean.
(Arsenic-breathing microbes discovered in the tropical Pacific Ocean, National Science Foundation)
In a paper published in 2015, researchers proposed that cyanide, although a deadly poison, was in fact a key ingredient in the primordial soup from which all life on Earth originated.
(Scientists identify exoplanets where life could develop as it did on Earth, University of Cambridge)
It is also believed that the early moon had a magnetosphere - a magnetic field which would have deflected the sun's deadly electromagnetic radiation - similar to Earth's.
(Life Could Exist on Moon 4 Billion Years Ago, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Researchers have developed a blood test that could help with the early detection of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease.
(New Test May Detect Pancreatic Cancer Early, VOA News)
In the deadly 2018 earthquake in the Indonesian city of Palu, intense shaking changed solid ground into a landslide of flowing mud, multiplying the death toll and economic impact.
(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare but deadly viral infection.
(Hantavirus Infections, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
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