INSIDIOUS • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Insidious

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/ɪnsˈɪdiəs/ Listen

adjective

Insidious adj.

Lying in wait; watching an opportunity to insnare or entrap; deceitful; sly; treacherous; said of persons; as, the insidious foe. "The insidious witch."

Intended to entrap; characterized by treachery and deceit; as, insidious arts. "The insidious whisper of the bad angel."

Acting or proceeding unobserved or in a seemingly harmless manner, but slowly or eventually doing great damage; as, an insidious disease; an insidious plot.

Insidious disease (Med.), a disease existing, without marked symptoms, but ready to become active upon some slight occasion; a disease not appearing to be as bad as it really is.

Synonyms: Crafty; wily; artful; sly; designing; guileful; circumventive; treacherous; deceitful; deceptive.

See images of 'Insidious'

Etymology of 'Insidious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Insidious" Quotes from Famous Books

... devoting his great energies so zealously to the extermination of idolatry and error. What was it but repenting for his chief virtues, instead of relying, like a brave and dauntless soldier of our Establishment, upon his praiseworthy exertions to rid it of its insidious and relentless enemies?" ...

— Willy Reilly - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... speech, that the desertion of the King of Prussia, England's most magnanimous ally, was insidious, base, and treacherous. A glance at the preliminaries will suffice to prove that Frederick's interests were not forgotten. Frederick, moreover, was now in a condition to defend himself. At this very time, in fact, he had induced all the princes and states in Germany to sign a declaration of ...

— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... or disguise, its essence is always the same, and its very speciousness calls for all our vigilance and {52} determination to fight it. We must not weary of challenging its root-assumption, or of exposing its insidious tendencies; we must not weary of reiterating the truth that God is not identical with the universe, but to be worshipped as the One who is over all; we must insist that His nearness to us and our likeness to Him are not identity with Him—nay, that it is His otherness from us which ...

— Problems of Immanence - Studies Critical and Constructive • J. Warschauer

... city is as insidious as the sleeping-draught of an Indian soothsayer, under its spell men go mad for gain and forget that to stand on the brow of a mountain at night, arms outstretched in kinship to Vega and Capella, is a golden moment ...

— Every Soul Hath Its Song • Fannie Hurst

... Harold's distress, for she knew Durand to be far too easily led, and too generous and unsuspicious to believe evil of any one. Happy-go- lucky, carefree and ever ready for any frolic, he was exactly the type to fall a victim to Blue's insidious influence, for Blue could be fascinating to a degree when it served his turn. Blue was debarred the privilege of visiting Middies' Haven, and his resentment of this prompted him to try to wreak his vengeance upon Mrs. Harold's boys. To their credit be it told ...

— Peggy Stewart: Navy Girl at Home • Gabrielle E. Jackson

More quotes...