lethal
/'li:θəl/
Definition
- Adjective:
- Capable of causing death; deadly or fatal: Describes something with the potential or power to kill.
- Extremely harmful or destructive: Can describe something that causes great damage or is devastatingly effective.
Usage
The adjective "lethal" is used to qualify nouns, indicating they have death-dealing properties or extreme danger. It is often used in medical, military, legal, and general contexts. - It typically precedes the noun it modifies (e.g., a lethal dose). - It can be used in both literal (causing physical death) and figurative (causing the end or failure of something) senses, though the literal sense is primary.
Examples
- The snake's venom is highly lethal.
- He was convicted of carrying a lethal weapon.
- The boxer delivered a lethal blow to his opponent's head.
- The policy had a lethal effect on small businesses.
- A lethal dose of the drug was found in his system.
Advanced Usage
- "Lethal injection": A method of execution where a person is killed with a fatal dose of drugs.
- The prisoner was executed by lethal injection.
- Figurative Use: Describing something that causes the certain end or failure of a non-living entity.
- The scandal proved to be a lethal blow to his political career.
Variants and Related Words
- Lethality (noun): The capacity or power to cause death; the quality of being lethal.
- The lethality of the new virus strain is being studied.
- Non-lethal (adjective): Not capable of causing death.
- The police used non-lethal force to disperse the crowd.
Synonyms
- Deadly: (Very similar, often interchangeable) Likely to cause or capable of causing death.
- Fatal: Resulting in or capable of causing death.
- Mortal: Causing or liable to cause death; fatal. (Often used in "mortal wound").
- Deathly: Resembling or suggestive of death.
Antonyms
- Harmless: Not able or likely to cause harm.
- Safe: Not causing or likely to cause harm or injury.
- Non-lethal: (see above).
Phrases and Collocations
- Lethal weapon: A weapon capable of causing death.
- Lethal dose: The amount of a substance sufficient to cause death.
- Lethal force: The use of force that is likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm.
- Potentially lethal: Having the possibility of causing death.
Adjective
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of an instrument of certain death
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deadly poisons
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lethal weapon
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a lethal injection
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