Pestilential

2 definitions found

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

  Pestilential \Pes`ti*len"tial\, a. [Cf. F. pestilentiel.]
     1. Having the nature or qualities of a pestilence. "Sends the
        pestilential vapors." --Longfellow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence: Mischievous; noxious; pernicious; morally


        destructive.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin.
                                                    --Jer. Taylor.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pestilential
       adj : likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease; "a
             pestilential malignancy in the air"- Jonathan Swift;
             "plaguey fevers" [syn: {pestilent}, {pestiferous}, {plaguey}]