poisonous
poi·so·nous
adjective
3.
marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
- “a malevolent lie”
- “poisonous hate...in his eyes” Ernest Hemingway
- “venomous criticism”
- “vicious gossip”
Origin
From Middle English poisounous, poysonouse. By surface analysis, poison + -ous.
Phrases
- fruit of the poisonous tree
- poisonous compliment
Related words
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.