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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
Derived Forms
- ˈ徱dzܲԱ, noun
- ˈ徱dzܲ, adverb
Other yvlog Forms
- ·i·dzܲ· adverb
- ·i·dzܲ·Ա noun
- ܲi·i·dzܲ adjective
- un·i·dzܲ· adverb
- un·i·dzܲ·Ա noun
yvlog History and Origins
Origin of insidious1
yvlog History and Origins
Origin of insidious1
Example Sentences
At his core, Hitler despised Marxism, viewing it as an insidious Jewish conspiracy.
An insidious but lesser-known consequence of even a mild measles infection is that it kills the very cells that remember which pathogens the patient has previously fought and how those battles were won.
With women underrepresented in front of and behind the camera, male storytellers often shaped '90s narratives about women in insidious ways.
To Didion, Kennedy represented something insidious in the American character: the desire for voters to admire politicians like movie stars, and the pandering of American politicians to provide heroes made of clay.
What makes use of the device so insidious is not simply the monitoring, of course, but that trivial actions, and even non-actions, mere thoughts, lead inexorably to nightmarish scenarios.
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More About Insidious
What does insidious mean?
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.
Where does insidious come from?
The first records of insidious come from around 1535. It comes from the Latin Բ徱ōܲ, meaning “deceitful.”
The word insidious is often used in the media and popular culture to describe conspiracies, schemes, corruption, shadowy organizations, and other bad things that are done in secret.
Did you know ... ?
How is Բ徱dzܲused in real life?
Insidious is a word that describes something as being sneaky and up to no good.
A lot of attention has been given to WhatsApp’s privacy changes.
But the most insidious features from these companies are non-obvious but right in front of our faces.
— Tariq Patanam (@TariqPatanam)
Prisons are full of insidious things but one of the most infuriating is that incarcerated people have to pay money to make a phone call. All the research we have says maintaining family ties reduces the likelihood of coming back & yet the system makes it as difficult as possible.
— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII)
Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. An insidious crime that affects so many children and women from vulnerable populations. Need help call 1-800-373-7888.
— Chief Ken Berkowitz (@ChiefBerkowitz)
Try using insidious!
Is insidious used correctly in the following sentence?
She was so cunning and crafty that we didn’t have a clue about her insidious plans until after she had betrayed us.
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