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insidious
[in-sid-ee-uhs]
adjective
intended to entrap or beguile.
an insidious plan.
stealthily treacherous or deceitful.
an insidious enemy.
Synonyms: , , , ,operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect.
an insidious disease.
insidious
/ ɪˈɪɪə /
adjective
stealthy, subtle, cunning, or treacherous
working in a subtle or apparently innocuous way, but nevertheless deadly
an insidious illness
Other Word Forms
- insidiously adverb
- insidiousness noun
- uninsidious adjective
- uninsidiously adverb
- uninsidiousness noun
- ˈ徱dzܲԱ noun
- ˈ徱dzܲ adverb
Word History and Origins
Origin of insidious1
Word History and Origins
Origin of insidious1
Example Sentences
"It gave us a language to describe what was going on in that home, to describe the insidious nature that is mostly non-physical violence," he said.
Our bodies have experienced an insidious decline over the past half a century.
The really insidious thing about our culture and about this moment is that it’s scary and it’s dangerous and it’s catastrophic and it’s absurd and ridiculous and stupid and impossible to take seriously.
Compounding current AI control mechanisms is an insidious deprivation: the denial of sensory input.
The public is too distracted by the hateful rhetoric and showmanship to notice more insidious actions, such as laws against mass protests and attacks on federal judges.
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When To Use
Insidious describes something as being sneaky or being secretly dangerous or harmful.Insidious also describes something as being corrupting or intending to entrap.The word insidious is used to describe something as being stealthy, treacherous, or operating in the shadows, as in He came up with an insidious plan to rob the jewelry store. Insidious is always associated with something negative, implying something is bad or is going to cause harm.Insidious is also often used to describe something as appearing harmless or nonthreatening but subtly causing serious damage, as in The insidious language in the book radicalized many readers without them even knowing it.Related to this sense, insidious is used in medicine to refer to diseases that slowly get worse and worse without any noticeable signs that they are there at all. Cancer is often described as insidious because it is often found when it is too late to treat it.Example: The investigators were after an insidious group of hackers who were stealing government secrets.
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