Lethal

Pronunciation

• IPA: /liːθəl/
• Rhymes: -iːθəl

From Latin lētālis ("mortal, deadly"), improperly written lethalis, from letum ("death"), improperly written as lethum, as associated with Greek λήθη (lethe, "forgetfulness").

Full definition of lethal

Adjective

1. Deadly; mortal; fatal.
• 2013-07-20, Old soldiers?, 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.

Related terms

• lethality
• semilethal

Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.

Noun

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