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lethal

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Learned borrowing from Latin lētālis (deadly, mortal, fatal), improperly written lēthālis, from lētum (death), improperly written as lēthum, from a supposed connection with Ancient Greek λήθη (lḗthē, oblivion, forgetfulness).

Adjective

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lethal (comparative more lethal, superlative most lethal)

  1. Of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal.
    • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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lethal (plural lethals)

  1. Any weapon that causes death.
    Antonym: non-lethal
  2. (genetics) An allele that causes the death of the organism that carries it.

Etymology 2

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Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.

Noun

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lethal (uncountable)

  1. (chemistry) One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.
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Further reading

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