Adjacent Words

Venomous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VEN'OMOUS, a.
1. Poisonous; noxious to animal life; as, the bite of a serpent may be venomous. The sack at the base of the rattlesnake's teeth, contains venomous matter.
2. Noxious; mischievous; malignant; as a venomous progeny.
3. Spiteful; as a venomous writer.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom; "venomous snakes"; "a virulent insect bite" [syn: deadly, venomous, virulent]
2: marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful; "poisonous hate"; "venomous criticism"; "vicious gossip" [syn: poisonous, venomous, vicious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. full of venom: as a. poisonous, envenomed b. noxious, pernicious <expose a venomous dope ring — Don Porter> c. spiteful, malevolent <venomous criticism> 2. having a venom-producing gland and able to inflict a poisoned wound <venomous snakes> • venomously adverb • venomousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 a containing, secreting, or injecting venom. b (of a snake etc.) inflicting poisonous wounds by this means. 2 (of a person etc.) virulent, spiteful, malignant. Derivatives: venomously adv. venomousness n. Etymology: ME f. OF venimeux f. venim: see VENOM

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Venomous Ven"om*ous, a. [OE. venemous, venimous, F. venimeux, L. venenosus, fr. venenum poison. See Venom, and cf. Venenose.] 1. Full of venom; noxious to animal life; poisonous; as, the bite of a serpent may be venomous. 2. (Zo["o]l.) Having a poison gland or glands for the secretion of venom, as certain serpents and insects. 3. Noxious; mischievous; malignant; spiteful; as, a venomous progeny; a venomous writer. Venomous snake (Zo["o]l.), any serpent which has poison glands and fangs, whether dangerous to man or not. These serpents constitute two tribes, the viperine serpents, or Solenoglypha, and the cobralike serpents, or Proteroglypha. The former have perforated, erectile fangs situated in the front part of the upper jaw, and are without ordinary teeth behind the fangs; the latter have permanently erect and grooved fangs, with ordinary maxillary teeth behind them. -- Ven"om*ous*ly, adv. -- Ven"om*ous*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you describe a person or their behaviour as venomous, you mean that they show great bitterness and anger towards someone. He heaped abuse on Waite and made venomous personal attacks... ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. A venomous snake, spider, or other creature uses poison to attack other creatures. The adder is Britain's only venomous snake. = poisonous ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Poisonous, noxious to animal life, virulent. 2. Malignant, malicious, spiteful, mischievous, noxious, envenomed.

Moby Thesaurus

acerbic, acrid, acute, antagonistic, antipathetic, baleful, baneful, belligerent, bitter, catching, caustic, clashing, colliding, communicable, conflicting, contagious, corroding, corrosive, corrupting, corruptive, counterproductive, cutting, damaging, dangerous, deadly, deleterious, despiteful, destructive, detrimental, disadvantageous, disserviceable, distressing, drastic, embittered, envenomed, excessive, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme, fierce, full of hate, furious, great, harmful, hateful, hostile, hurtful, immoderate, infectious, infective, injurious, intemperate, intense, keen, lethal, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, mischievous, noisome, noxious, ominous, outrageous, pernicious, pestiferous, pestilential, piercing, poison, poisonous, prejudicial, quarrelsome, rancorous, repugnant, rigorous, rough, savage, scatheful, set against, severe, sharp, sore, spiteful, splenetic, splitting, tough, toxic, toxicant, toxiferous, unconscionable, vehement, venenate, veneniferous, venenous, vicious, violent, viperish, viperlike, viperous, virulent, vitriolic