Do you know the definition of insidious? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word insidious, including its definition, usage, word origin, example sentences, and more!
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According to sources like American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language and Collins English Dictionary, the word insidious is an adjective that means harmful, dangerous or evil, or cunning in an injurious way like an ambush. The word insidious is four syllables – in-sid-i-ous, and the pronunciation of insidious is ɪnˈsɪdɪəs. The adverb form of insidious is formed by adding the suffix ly to create insidiously (adv.) Many things can be insidious, like an insidious disease or insidious illness like glaucoma, insidious enemy, insidious problems, an insidious rumor, insidious plot, insidious change that has a gave effect, an evil, insidious plan, insidious ways, an insidious drug or chemicals, an insidious liking, insidious side effects, insidious arts, an insidious onset, an insidious foe, insidious misinformation, an insidious witch, insidious trend, insidious form of water pollution, and more.
There are many different languages that use words that mean insidious. You may notice that sometimes different languages have words that are very close to English words or to words of other languages. This is usually because the words share a root or origin. Often, cognates, which are words that look, sound, and mean something similar across languages, are formed when words share an origin. This list of translations for the word insidious is provided by Word Sense.
Polish: podstępny, zdradliwy, zdradziecki
Romanian: insidios
Khmer: ដែលបញ្ឆោត (dael bɑɲcʰaot)
Serbo-Croatian: škodljiv, шкодљив
Portuguese: insidioso
Maori: toropuku
Finnish: salakavala
Armenian: նենգ
Swedish: försåtlig
Russian: скры́тый, кова́рный
Spanish: insidioso
French: insidieux
Dutch: sluipend, verraderlijk
How can the word insidious be used in a sentence?
The word insidious can be used in many different sentences in the English language. Using words in a sentence is a great way to memorize their definitions. You can also try making quizzes for yourself or testing yourself with flashcards. Try using this word of the day in a sentence today! Below are several examples of insidious.
The insidious censorship of the press can cause serious harm as the problem spreads. The pay gap in the industry was insidious as well, but the leaders brushed it off in a harmless way.
Gretel and Hansel made their was to the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.
They found five insidious decigrams of malourea in the cachet, which is known as the trade name Veronal.
David Glass insidiously tried to sabotage the vocals on Christianna and Barry Galvin’s 5th full-length album.
The insidious professor at Princeton University used treachery and deceit to do great damage to the school, and his stratagem was to seem like his actions were all being taken in a harmless manner.
The varroa mite, or Varroa destructor, was insidiously dangerous to the building.
The interval was insidious to the human ears, while inaudible since the range bottoms out at 20 Hz.
What is the origin of the word insidious?
According to Etymonline, the word insidious has been used since the 1540s. This word comes from France as the Middle French insidieux, which comes from the Latin insidiae insidēre/insidere sedēre and the derivative of insidēre, which is the Latin insidiosus/Latin īnsidiōsus/Latin insidiōsus cunning which uses the Latin suffix ōsus. This word comes from Indo-European roots.
What are synonyms and antonyms of insidious?
There are a variety of different words that one can use in place of the word insidious. These are called synonyms, which are words and phrases that have the same or a similar meaning as another word or phrase. Synonyms are useful to know if you are trying to expand your vocabulary as well as if you are trying to avoid repeating yourself. This list of synonyms for the word insidious is provided by Power Thesaurus.
There are also numerous words and phrases that are antonyms for the word insidious. Antonyms are words and phrases that have the opposite meaning as another word or phrase. Opposite words are helpful to know if you are trying to expand your knowledge of the English language. This list of antonyms is provided by Power Thesaurus as well.
straight
conspicuous
unconcealed
artless
up front
open
as pure as the driven snow
insignificant
frankish
limited
totally open
straight to the point
miniature
upright
white
direct
unbeguileful
outspoken
partial
rudimentary
pretenseless
minimal
poor
deficient
honest
meager
plain
inadequate
minor
narrow
up-front
paltry
talking turkey
export-processing
as good as your word
frankhearted
candid
frank
franco
restricted
undissimulated
undissembling
lean
laid on the line
scanty
square-shooting
straight-from-the-shoulder
compact
lay it on the line
genuine
harmless
diminished
insubstantial
all wool and a yard wide
sincere
aboveboard
guilt-free
sparse
miserly
plain-dealing
summary
unvarnished
person-to-person
scant
meagre
forthright
little
ingenuous
exclusive
small
incomplete
guileless
insufficient
unequivocal
circumscribed
slight
determinate
tiny
finite
fair
undisguised
undissembled
franc
unsatisfactory
realest
reduced
veracious
straightforward
basic
brief
short
uncomprehensive
truthful
obvious
Overall, the word insidious means dangerously evil and cunning. This word is Latin in origin.
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.