lethal
adjective
- of an instrument of certain death
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈliː.θəl/
adj
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin lētālis (“deadly, mortal, fatal”), improperly written lēthālis, from lētum (“death”), improperly written as lēthum, from a supposed connection with Ancient Greek λήθη (lḗthē, “oblivion, forgetfulness”).
- Of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal.
“Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.”
noun
Etymology: Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.
- One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.