LESSON 11: The Bad, the Very Bad, and the Baddest

Words Relating to Harmful or Mean

Baneful• My campus visit was baneful.

When it was over, I resolved never to go near the place again.

• A teacher’s baneful comments about Becky destroyed her chances of getting into the Honor Society.

• Norman’s baneful remark about Nora’s hair ruined the rest of her day.

Adjective

Causing ruin; harmful; pernicious

Deleterious• PCBs and other harmful pollutants

have had a deleterious effect on fish in the Hudson River.

• Many processed foods contain chemicals and other ingredients that can be deleterious to our health.

• The arrogance of the new principal had a deleterious effect on the morale of the school’s staff and students.

Adjective

Harmful to one’s health or overall welfare; pernicious

Detrimental• To the detriment of its Nielsen

ratings, Friends went on the air at the same time as Survivor and lost 25 percent of its audience.

• Smoking is known to be detrimental to your health.

• The trouble Steve caused had a detrimental effect on the class’s test scores.

Adjective

Harmful

Devious• The sly, devious fox outwitted the

farmer and broke into the henhouse.

• Russ is too devious to trust with the keys to the equipment closet.

• The neighbors could not believe that someone as upright as Hanssen could be so devious.

Adjective

Dishonest or deceptive; tricky

Iniquitous• The iniquitous referee plainly

favored the other team over ours. Every call went against our team.

• Income tax cuts that benefit the wealthy will only further the iniquitous economic divide between the wealthy and the less fortunate.

• Iniquity has no place in a courtroom dedicated to justice.

Adjective

Showing a lack of fairness; wicked; vicious

Malicious• By the show’s end, the heckler’s

insensitive remarks became downright malicious.

• Malicious gossip did irreparable harm to Hans’ reputation.

• To save his own neck, Boris maliciously accused Beatrice of a crime she didn’t commit.

Adjective

Intending to hurt or harm another; spiteful

Nefarious• Of all the rotten scoundrels in the

story, Sebastian was the most nefarious.

• His desire to get a conviction caused the nefarious police officer to plant incriminating evidence at the scene of the crime.

• Extortion of other kids’ lunch money is just one example of Hubert’s nefariousness.

Adjective

Very mean and wicked

Odious• John has the odious habit of

clipping his toenails in class.

• I can’t imagine a more odious crime than child abuse.

• Steerforth was an odious character who betrayed his friends and told nothing but lies.

Adjective

Loathsome; evil; revolting in a disgusting way

Ominous• The dark clouds on the horizon

looked ominous.

• The settlers considered the gravestones alongside the trail ominous signs of hardships to come.

• Superstitious people regard broken mirrors and black cats as ominous.

Adjective

Pertaining to an evil omen; foreboding

Pernicious• The new government feared that

the Communist sympathizers would have a pernicious influence on the nation’s stability.

• Cigarette smoke caused a pernicious growth to form in Mr. Down’s lungs. Eventually, the malignancy killed him.

• Lady Macbeth planted in her husband’s mind the pernicious scheme of killing the king and seizing the crown.

Adjective

Very destructive or harmful, usually in an inconspicuous and relentless way

Rancorous• The conversation turned rancorous

when Louis and Max started to argue.

• A rancorous feud between two families lies at the heart of Romeo and Juliet.

• I once felt bitter about her deception, but now I’ve lost my rancor.

Adjective

Deeply hateful or spiteful; malicious

Virulent• Rattlesnakes are virulent; their

poison can be fatal.• Although the fumes seem

harmless, they are extremely virulent.

• Bubonic plague was a virulent disease that killed millions in medieval Europe.

Adjective

Extremely poisonous; deadly; full of spiteful hatred