WordWealth: pestiferous

pestiferous \pes-TIF-uh-ruhs\, adj.

1. bringing or bearing disease. 2. pestilential. 3. pernicious; evil. 4. Informal. mischievous; troublesome or annoying. [1425–75; late ME < L pestiferus plague-bringing, equiv. to pesti- (s. of pestis) PEST + -ferus -FEROUS]

—pes·tifer·ous·ly, adv.

—pes·tifer·ous·ness, n. (Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

Equatorial climate and pestiferous conditions made Guayaquil such an unattractive port in the past that it was not until well into the twentieth century, when sanitary conditions were established, that it became a modern city handling extensive commerce with the rest of the world. —— Thomas E. Weil, Countries of the World

What is the most correct, the politest, the best
Way to get rid of this pestiferous unwanted 'guest'? —— James Michie, "Dear Mary," The Spectator, Sept 28, 1996

No matter how many times one swats at the gnat, the winged creature refuses to surrender his pestiferous activity. —— J V Fesko, "The Legacy of Old School Confession Subscription in the OPC," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2003

The sentence of the court was sent to the Bishop of London and all his brethren, the suffragans of the diocese of Canterbury, as also to the Bishop of Lincoln, Wicliffe's diocesan, accompanied by the commands of Courtenay, as "Primate of all England," that they should look to it that these pestiferous doctrines were not taught in their dioceses. —— James A. Wylie, The History of Protestantism

See also:

mortiferous

mor·tif·er·ous , adj.

deadly; fatal.

[1525–35; < L mortiferus death-bearing, equiv. to morti- (s. of mors) death + -ferus -FEROUS]

—mor·tifer·ous·ness, n. (Random House Webster's Unabridged).

Synonyms: extreme, intense, lethal, mortal, pestilent, pestilential, terrible, baleful, baneful, calamitous, cataclysmic, catastrophic, deathly, destructive, disastrous, fateful, final, ill-fated, ill-starred, incurable, inevitable, killing, malefic, malignant, pernicious, ruinous, terminal, virulent.

Look at Thesaurus for "mortiferous"

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