noxious
pronunciation
How to pronounce noxious in British English: UK [ˈnɒkʃəs]
How to pronounce noxious in American English: US [ˈnɑːkʃəs]
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- Adjective:
- injurious to physical or mental health
Word Origin
- noxious
- noxious: [17] Noxious was adapted from Latin noxius ‘harmful’, a derivative of noxa ‘damage, injury’. (An earlier borrowing was obnoxious [16], from Latin obnoxius, which contains the prefix ob- ‘to’.) Related to noxa were Latin nex ‘destruction, death, slaughter’ (source of English internecine and pernicious) and nocēre ‘injure’ (source of English innocent, innocuous, and nuisance).=> innocent, innocuous, internecine, nuisance, obnoxious, pernicious
- noxious (adj.)
- c. 1500, from Latin noxius "hurtful, injurious," from noxa "injury, hurt, damage entailing liability" (related to nocere "to hurt," and to nex "slaughter"), from PIE *nek-ro-, causative form of root *nek- (1) "death" (see necro-).
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. And it promises to cut down on its noxious pollution .
- 2. But chemistry goes far beyond noxious fumes .
- 3. According to this interpretation , mirror therapy works by replacing noxious memories with innocuous ones .
- 4. Fuel substitution is also difficult : environmental activists worry that burning waste might release noxious chemicals .
- 5. Widespread burning of coal and soaring car emissions are the noxious consequence of china 's economic miracle .