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Insidious

//ɪnˈsɪdi.əs// adj

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.

    "Strong and vigorous man as he looks, Livingstone has been for years the victim of a secret and insidious disease."

  2. 2
    Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.

    "Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house."

  3. 3
    Treacherous. nonstandard

    "The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors."

Adjective
  1. 1
    working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way wordnet
  2. 2
    intended to entrap wordnet
  3. 3
    beguiling but harmful wordnet

Etymology

From Middle French insidieux, from Latin īnsidiōsus (“cunning, artful, deceitful”), from īnsidiae (“a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, stratagem”) + -ōsus, from īnsideō (“to sit in or on”), from in (“in, on”) + sedeō (“to sit”).

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