Search Result for "pestiferous": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (4)

1. contaminated with infecting organisms;
- Example: "dirty wounds"
- Example: "obliged to go into infected rooms"- Jane Austen
[syn: dirty, pestiferous]

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

3. tending to corrupt or pervert;
[syn: corruptive, perversive, pestiferous]

4. causing irritation or annoyance;
- Example: "tapping an annoying rhythm on his glass with his fork"
- Example: "aircraft noise is particularly bothersome near the airport"
- Example: "found it galling to have to ask permission"
- Example: "an irritating delay"
- Example: "nettlesome paperwork"
- Example: "a pesky mosquito"
- Example: "swarms of pestering gnats"
- Example: "a plaguey newfangled safety catch"
- Example: "a teasing and persistent thought annoyed him"
- Example: "a vexatious child"
- Example: "it is vexing to have to admit you are wrong"
[syn: annoying, bothersome, galling, irritating, nettlesome, pesky, pestering, pestiferous, plaguy, plaguey, teasing, vexatious, vexing]



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

pestiferous
    adj 1: contaminated with infecting organisms; "dirty wounds";
           "obliged to go into infected rooms"- Jane Austen [syn:
           dirty, pestiferous]
    2: likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease; "a
       pestilential malignancy in the air"- Jonathan Swift; "plaguey
       fevers" [syn: pestilent, pestilential, pestiferous,
       plaguey]
    3: tending to corrupt or pervert [syn: corruptive,
       perversive, pestiferous]
    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, pestiferous, plaguy, plaguey, teasing,
       vexatious, vexing]