insidious

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective beguiling but harmful
  2. adjective intended to entrap
  3. adjective working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way

Etymology

From Middle French insidieux, from Latin īnsidiōsus (“cunning, artful, deceitful”), from īnsidiae (“a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, stratagem”) + -ōsus, from īnsideō (“to sit in or on”), from in (“in, on”) + sedeō (“to sit”).

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