lethal- +

(Latin: deadly, mortal)

From Latin letalis, "deadly, fatal"; from letum, "death".


lethal
1. Anything that is certain to or intended to cause death.
2. Enough to kill; fatal.
3. Harmful or causing disaster or destruction: "The senator made a move that was lethal to his political career."
lethal dose (LD)
The amount of a toxic substance that will cause death in a person.
lethality, lethalness
1. The quality of being deadly.
2. Capable of causing death.
lethiferous
Anything that causes or results in death; deadly; destructive.
nonlethal
1. Not capable of causing death.
2. Primarily a reference to police control in which non-lethal force, also called less-than-lethal or less-lethal force, is intended to be unlikely to kill or to cause great bodily injury to a human target.
photolethal
A reference to the lethal effects of light.
semilethal
1. Lethal in more than 50 percent but fewer than 100 percent of cases.
2. A mutation that in the homozygous condition produces more than 50 percent mortality but not complete mortality.
sublethal
1. Almost lethal or fatal.
2. Less than lethal; such as, a sublethal dose of poison.
sublethally
Not sufficient to cause death.

Related "death, dead; kill" units: -cide; mort-; neci-; necro-; phono-; thanato-.


If there are any numbers below, use them to see other pages in this unit.


Back to Index | Search Box | Main Index

The Main-Word Info page

The + sign at the end of a unit title means all of the words in that unit have definitions.

Directory of special content and topics

Do you want to help to make this dictionary bigger and better?

Subscribe to this FREE Focusing on Words Newsletter

E-mail Contact words@wordinfo.info




Google
 
Web Search Word Info Search