lethal

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   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.

2. 2
   adj

   of an instrument of certain death

3. 3
   noun

   Any weapon that causes death.

4. 4
   noun

   An allele that causes the death of the organism that carries it.

5. 5
   noun

   One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.

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”).