Pestiferous

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pestiferous \Pes*tif"er*ous\, a. [L. pestiferus, pestifer;
     pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestif[`e]re.]
     1. Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant;
        infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies. "Poor,
        pestiferous creatures begging alms." --Evelyn.
        "Unwholesome and pestiferous occupations." --Burke.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious;
        hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Pestiferous reports of men very nobly held. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pestiferous
       adj 1: contaminated with infecting organisms; "dirty wounds";
              "obliged to go into infected rooms"- Jane Austen [syn:
               {contaminated}, {dirty}, {infected}]
       2: likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease; "a
          pestilential malignancy in the air"- Jonathan Swift;
          "plaguey fevers" [syn: {pestilent}, {pestilential}, {plaguey}]
       3: tending to corrupt or pervert [syn: {corruptive}, {perversive}]
       4: causing irritation or annoyance; "tapping an annoying rhythm
          on his glass with his fork"; "aircraft noise is
          particularly bothersome near the airport"; "found it
          galling to have to ask permission"; "an irritating delay";
          "nettlesome paperwork"; "a pesky mosquito"; "swarms of
          pestering gnats"; "a plaguey newfangled safety catch"; "a
          teasing and persistent thought annoyed him"; "a vexatious
          child"; "it is vexing to have to admit you are wrong"
          [syn: {annoying}, {bothersome}, {galling}, {irritating}, {nettlesome},
           {pesky}, {pestering}, {plaguy}, {plaguey}, {teasing}, {vexatious},
           {vexing}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  87 Moby Thesaurus words for "pestiferous":
     aggravating, annoying, bad, bad for, baneful, bothering,
     bothersome, catching, communicable, contagious, contaminated,
     deadly, destructive, disturbing, endemic, envenomed, epidemial,
     epidemic, epiphytotic, epizootic, exasperating, foul, galling,
     harassing, harmful, importunate, importune, infectious, infective,
     injurious, inoculable, insalubrious, insanitary, irking, irksome,
     irritating, malign, malignant, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic,
     miasmic, morbific, noisome, noxious, pandemic, pathogenic, peccant,
     pesky, pestering, pestilent, pestilential, plaguesome, plaguey,
     plaguing, poisonous, polluted, provoking, septic, sporadic,
     spreading, tainted, taking, teasing, tiresome, tormenting, toxic,
     toxicant, toxiferous, troublesome, troubling, unhealthful,
     unhealthy, unhygienic, unsanitary, unwholesome, venenate,
     veneniferous, venenous, venomous, vexatious, vexing, virulent,
     wearisome, worrisome, worrying, zymotic