Adjacent Words

Deadly definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DEAD'LY, a. ded'ly.
1. That may occasion death; mortal; fatal; destructive; as a deadly blow or wound.
2. Mortal; implacable; aiming to kill or destroy; as a deadly enemy; deadly malice a deadly feud.
DEAD'LY, adv. ded'ly. In a manner resembling death; as deadly pale or wan.
2. Mortally.
With groanings of a deadly wounded man. Ezek 30.
3. Implacably; destructively.
4. In a vulgar or ludicrous sense, very; extremely; as a deadly cunning man.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: causing or capable of causing death; "a fatal accident"; "a deadly enemy"; "mortal combat"; "a mortal illness" [syn: deadly, deathly, mortal]
2: of an instrument of certain death; "deadly poisons"; "lethal weapon"; "a lethal injection" [syn: deadly, lethal]
3: extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom; "venomous snakes"; "a virulent insect bite" [syn: deadly, venomous, virulent]
4: involving loss of divine grace or spiritual death; "the seven deadly sins" [syn: deadly, mortal]
5: exceedingly harmful [syn: baneful, deadly, pernicious, pestilent]
6: (of a disease) having a rapid course and violent effect adv
1: as if dead [syn: deadly, lifelessly]
2: (used as intensives) extremely; "she was madly in love"; "deadly dull"; "deadly earnest"; "deucedly clever"; "insanely jealous" [syn: madly, insanely, deadly, deucedly, devilishly]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (deadlier; -est) Date: before 12th century 1. likely to cause or capable of producing death <deadly poison> 2. a. aiming to kill or destroy ; implacable <a deadly enemy> b. highly effective <a deadly exposé> c. unerring <a deadly marksman> d. marked by determination or extreme seriousness 3. a. tending to deprive of force or vitality <a deadly habit> b. suggestive of death especially in dullness or lack of animation <deadly bores> <a deadly conversation> 4. very great ; extreme • deadliness noun Synonyms: deadly, mortal, fatal, lethal mean causing or capable of causing death. deadly applies to an established or very likely cause of death <a deadly disease>. mortal implies that death has occurred or is inevitable <a mortal wound>. fatal stresses the inevitability of what has in fact resulted in death or destruction <fatal consequences>. lethal applies to something that is bound to cause death or exists for the destruction of life <lethal gas>. II. adverb Date: before 12th century 1. archaic in a manner to cause death ; mortally 2. suggesting death 3. extremely <deadly serious>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & adv. --adj. (deadlier, deadliest) 1 a causing or able to cause fatal injury or serious damage. b poisonous (deadly snake). 2 intense, extreme (deadly dullness). 3 (of an aim etc.) extremely accurate or effective. 4 deathlike (deadly pale; deadly faintness; deadly gloom). 5 colloq. dreary, dull. 6 implacable. --adv. 1 like death; as if dead (deadly faint). 2 extremely, intensely (deadly serious). Phrases and idioms: deadly nightshade = BELLADONNA. deadly sin a sin regarded as leading to damnation, esp. pride, covetousness, lust, gluttony, envy, anger, and sloth. Derivatives: deadliness n. Etymology: OE deadlic, deadlice (as DEAD, -LY(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sin Sin, n. [OE. sinne, AS. synn, syn; akin to D. zonde, OS. sundia, OHG. sunta, G. s["u]nde, Icel., Dan. & Sw. synd, L. sons, sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of the verb signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is. Cf. Authentic, Sooth.] 1. Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. --John viii. 34. Sin is the transgression of the law. --1 John iii. 4. I think 't no sin. To cozen him that would unjustly win. --Shak. Enthralled By sin to foul, exorbitant desires. --Milton. 2. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a misdemeanor; as, a sin against good manners. I grant that poetry's a crying sin. --Pope. 3. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. --2 Cor. v. 21. 4. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [R.] Thy ambition, Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land Of noble Buckingham. --Shak. Note: Sin is used in the formation of some compound words of obvious signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred, sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, and the like. Actual sin, Canonical sins, Original sin, Venial sin. See under Actual, Canonical, etc. Deadly, or Mortal, sins (R. C. Ch.), willful and deliberate transgressions, which take away divine grace; -- in distinction from vental sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Sin eater, a man who (according to a former practice in England) for a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on the chest of a dead person, whereby he was supposed to have taken the sins of the dead person upon himself. Sin offering, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an expiation for sin. Syn: Iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See Crime.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Deadly Dead"ly, adv. 1. In a manner resembling, or as if produced by, death. ``Deadly pale.'' --Shak. 2. In a manner to occasion death; mortally. The groanings of a deadly wounded man. --Ezek. xxx. 24. 3. In an implacable manner; destructively. 4. Extremely. [Obs.] ``Deadly weary.'' --Orrery. ``So deadly cunning a man.'' --Arbuthnot.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Deadly Dead"ly, a. 1. Capable of causing death; mortal; fatal; destructive; certain or likely to cause death; as, a deadly blow or wound. 2. Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile; flagitious; as, deadly enemies. Thy assailant is quick, skillful, and deadly. --Shak. 3. Subject to death; mortal. [Obs.] The image of a deadly man. --Wyclif (Rom. i. 23). Deadly nightshade (Bot.), a poisonous plant; belladonna. See under Nightshade.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(deadlier, deadliest) 1. If something is deadly, it is likely or able to cause someone's death, or has already caused someone's death. He was acquitted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. ...a deadly disease currently affecting dolphins... Passive smoking can be deadly too... = lethal, fatal ADJ 2. If you describe a person or their behaviour as deadly, you mean that they will do or say anything to get what they want, without caring about other people. The Duchess levelled a deadly look at Nikko. ADJ [disapproval] 3. You can use deadly to emphasize that something has a particular quality, especially an unpleasant or undesirable quality. Broadcast news was accurate and reliable but deadly dull... = deathly ADV: ADV adj [emphasis] 4. A deadly situation has unpleasant or dangerous consequences. ...the deadly combination of low expectations and low achievement... ADJ: usu ADJ n 5. Deadly enemies or rivals fight or compete with each other in a very aggressive way. The two became deadly enemies... ADJ

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ded'-li: In the Old Testament two words are used in the sense of a "mortal (Hebrew nephesh, "hateful," "foul") enemy" (Ps 17:9), and in the sense of "fatal disease," the destructiveness of which causes a general panic (Hebrew maweth, "death," 1Sa 5:11).

In the New Testament we have in Re 13:3,12 the expression "deadly wound" (Greek thanatos), better "death-stroke," as in the Revised Version (British and American), and the phrases "deadly thing," i.e. poison (thanasimon ti, Mr 16:18), and "full of deadly poison" (meste iou thanatephorou, Jas 3:8), said of an unruly tongue. Both Greek words convey the idea of "causing or bringing death" and occur in classical literature in a variety of uses in combination with the bite of venomous reptiles, deadly potions, mortal wounds and fatal contagion.

H. L. E. Luering

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Mortal, fatal, destructive, deleterious, noxious, murderous. 2. Implacable, rancorous, sanguinary, mortal.

Moby Thesaurus

a la mort, abominably, accurate, agonizingly, ashen, awful, awfully, baldly, baleful, balefully, baneful, barbaric, barbarous, bitterly, blatantly, bloodthirsty, blue, boring, brashly, brutal, cadaverous, calamitous, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, catching, cold-blooded, communicable, confoundedly, consuming, consumptive, contagious, corpselike, corroding, corrosive, corrupting, corruptive, counterproductive, cruelly, damaging, damnably, dangerous, dead, deadened, death-bringing, deathful, deathlike, deathly, deathly pale, deleterious, demolishing, demolitionary, depredatory, desolating, destroying, destructive, detrimental, deucedly, devastating, disadvantageous, disastrous, disserviceable, distressing, distressingly, dolorously, doomful, dreadful, dreadfully, dreary, dull, eerie, egregiously, envenomed, exact, excessively, excruciating, excruciatingly, exorbitantly, extravagantly, fatal, fateful, fearful, feral, ferocious, flagrantly, fratricidal, frightful, frightfully, ghastly, ghostlike, ghostly, grievously, grisly, gruesome, haggard, harmful, heartless, hellishly, homicidal, horrible, horribly, howling, humdrum, hurtful, implacable, improperly, inexcusably, infectious, infective, infernally, inhuman, injurious, inordinately, internecine, intolerably, killing, lamentably, lethal, livid, lurid, macabre, malefic, malevolent, malign, malignant, mephitic, merciless, miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, mischievous, miserably, mortal, mortuary, murderous, nakedly, nihilist, nihilistic, noisome, noxious, ominous, openly, painfully, pale, pallid, pernicious, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, piteously, pitiless, poisonous, precise, prejudicial, ravaging, rousing, ruining, ruinous, ruthless, sadly, savage, scatheful, self-destructive, shatteringly, shockingly, slaying, something awful, something fierce, sorely, staggeringly, subversionary, subversive, suicidal, tedious, terrible, terribly, terrific, thumping, tiresome, to the death, torturously, toxic, toxicant, toxiferous, true, unashamedly, unbearably, uncanny, unconscionably, unduly, unearthly, unerring, unfailing, unpardonably, vandalic, vandalish, vandalistic, venenate, veneniferous, venenous, venomous, vicious, virulent, wan, wasteful, wasting, wearisome, wearying, weird, whacking, white, withering, woefully