deadliness

C2+ Topic:Describing People

US /ˈdɛdlinəs/ UK /ˈdedlinəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being capable of causing death

The venom's deadliness alarmed the researchers.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... lethality fatality destructiveness virulence mortality

Opposites

harmlessnessinnocuousnesssafety

Word family

Related forms deadly dead

Etymology

From deadly (Old English dēadlīc 'mortal, subject to death') plus the noun-forming suffix -ness. Deadly itself is from dēad ('dead') plus -līc ('-ly').

dēadlīc Old English dēad Old English

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Topics

Describing People Word Formation & Derivatives

# deadliness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈdɛdlinəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈdedlinəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of being capable of causing death

## Examples
- The venom's deadliness alarmed the researchers.

## Synonyms
- lethality
- fatality
- destructiveness
- virulence
- mortality

## Antonyms
- harmlessness
- innocuousness
- safety

## Related Forms
- deadly
- dead

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dēadlīc
- Root: dēad

## Etymology
From deadly (Old English dēadlīc 'mortal, subject to death') plus the noun-forming suffix -ness. Deadly itself is from dēad ('dead') plus -līc ('-ly').

## AI Etymology
Deadliness is from deadly (Old English dēadlīc 'mortal, subject to death') plus the noun-forming suffix -ness. Deadly itself is from dēad ('dead') plus -līc ('-ly'). The ancestry passes through Old English dēadlīc and Old English dēad. The suffix -ness marks an abstract noun of quality or state, so the English form is shaped by recognizable word formation as well as by its inherited or borrowed base. In present use as a noun, it means "the quality of being capable of causing death", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include deadly and dead.

## Topics
- Describing People
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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deadliness

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