adj, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Highly injurious or destructive to life: deadly.
2. 2
   Annoying. informal
3. 3
   Harmful to morals or public order. archaic

Adjective

1. 1
   likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease wordnet
2. 2
   exceedingly harmful wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

aggravatingannoyingbanefulbothersomedeadlydeathly

Example

More examples

"You shouted. You have been pestilent. But so far, you have not been a traitor."

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin pestilens, from Latin pestis.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.