different between insidious vs insipient

English

Etymology

From Middle French insidieux, from Latin ?nsidi?sus (“cunning, artful, deceitful”), from ?nsidiae (“a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, stratagem”) + -?sus, from ?nside? (“to sit in or on”), from in (“in, on”) + sede? (“to sit”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?s?di.?s/

Adjective

insidious (comparative more insidious, superlative most insidious)

1. Producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
   • 2007, Sharon Weinstein, Ada Lawrence Plumer, Principles and practice of intravenous therapy

     The nurse always must be alert to signs of slow leak or insidious infiltration.

2. Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.
   • The insidious whispers of the bad angel.

   • 1948, D.V. Chitaley (editor or publisher), All India Reporter, volume 3, page 341:

     All these facts clearly appear to me now to establish that the sanctioned scheme was a part of a bigger and […] more insidious scheme which was to hoodwink the creditors and to firmly establish and consolidate the position […]

   • 1969, Dorothy Brewster, John Angus Burrell, Dead reckonings in fiction

     The atmosphere of this insidious city comes out to meet him the moment he touches the European shore; for in London he meets Maria Gostrey just over from France.

   • 2005, Anita Desai, Voices in the City, page 189:

     This seemed to her the worst defilement into which this insidious city had cheated her and in her agitation, she nearly ran into the latrine, […]

   • 2007, Joseph Epstein, Narcissus Leaves the Pool, page 171:

     This is the insidious way sports entrap you: you follow a player, which commits you to his team. You begin to acquire scraps of utterly useless information about teammates, managers, owners, trainers, agents, lawyers.

   Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.

3. (nonstandard) Treacherous.

   The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors.

Derived terms

• insidiously
• insidiousness

Related terms

Translations

References

• insidious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• insidious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “insidious” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

English

Etymology

From Middle English insipient, incipient, from Old French insipient.

Pronunciation

• Homophones: incipient

Adjective

insipient (comparative more insipient, superlative most insipient)

1. foolish; lacking wisdom; stupid

Derived terms

• insipience

Related terms

• insipid