baneful
Anything that's baneful is destructive or disastrous. The effects of wildfires can be baneful, causing the loss of people's homes, health, and even their lives.
The baneful effects of having an incredibly difficult math class at eight in the morning don't begin to compare to the baneful results of climate change. Still, feel free to use this archaic adjective for anything you consider to be extremely harmful. It comes from the noun bane and its Old English root, bana, which means not just "killer, slayer, murderer," but also "the devil."
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deadly or sinister
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synonyms:
baleful
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maleficent
harmful or evil in intent or effect
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maleficent
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exceedingly harmful
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synonyms:
deadly, pernicious, pestilent
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noxious
injurious to physical or mental health
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noxious
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Copy citationVocabulary lists containing baneful
This list covers Beowulf: A Graphic Novel, Beowulf, Lines 144–300 (Gummere Translation), and Beowulf, Lines 144–300 (Heaney Translation).
Ovid's Metamorphoses features myths and stories of change, mutation, and transformation. Learn these words from the translation by John Dryden here.
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