Pestiferous \Pes*tif"er*ous\, a. [L. pestiferus, pestifer;
pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestif[`e]re.]
1. Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant;
infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies. "Poor,
pestiferous creatures begging alms." --Evelyn.
"Unwholesome and pestiferous occupations." --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
2. Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious;
hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue.
[1913 Webster]
Pestiferous reports of men very nobly held. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
pestiferous
adj 1: contaminated with infecting organisms; "dirty wounds";
"obliged to go into infected rooms"- Jane Austen [syn:
contaminated, dirty, infected]
2: likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease; "a
pestilential malignancy in the air"- Jonathan Swift;
"plaguey fevers" [syn: pestilent, pestilential, plaguey]
3: tending to corrupt or pervert [syn: corruptive, perversive]
4: causing irritation or annoyance; "tapping an annoying rhythm
on his glass with his fork"; "aircraft noise is
particularly bothersome near the airport"; "found it
galling to have to ask permission"; "an irritating delay";
"nettlesome paperwork"; "a pesky mosquito"; "swarms of
pestering gnats"; "a plaguey newfangled safety catch"; "a
teasing and persistent thought annoyed him"; "a vexatious
child"; "it is vexing to have to admit you are wrong"
[syn: annoying, bothersome, galling, irritating, nettlesome,
pesky, pestering, plaguy, plaguey, teasing, vexatious,
vexing]
WordNet (r) 2.0
87 Moby Thesaurus words for "pestiferous":
aggravating, annoying, bad, bad for, baneful, bothering,
bothersome, catching, communicable, contagious, contaminated,
deadly, destructive, disturbing, endemic, envenomed, epidemial,
epidemic, epiphytotic, epizootic, exasperating, foul, galling,
harassing, harmful, importunate, importune, infectious, infective,
injurious, inoculable, insalubrious, insanitary, irking, irksome,
irritating, malign, malignant, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic,
miasmic, morbific, noisome, noxious, pandemic, pathogenic, peccant,
pesky, pestering, pestilent, pestilential, plaguesome, plaguey,
plaguing, poisonous, polluted, provoking, septic, sporadic,
spreading, tainted, taking, teasing, tiresome, tormenting, toxic,
toxicant, toxiferous, troublesome, troubling, unhealthful,
unhealthy, unhygienic, unsanitary, unwholesome, venenate,
veneniferous, venenous, venomous, vexatious, vexing, virulent,
wearisome, worrisome, worrying, zymotic
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
annoying, bothersome, contaminated, corruptive, dirty, galling, infected, irritating, nettlesome, perversive, pesky, pestering, pestilent, pestilential, plaguey, plaguy, teasing, vexatious, vexing
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