deadly

1 likely to cause or capable of causing death the doctors were alarmed about the outbreak of the deadly new virus Synonyms baleful, deathly, fatal, fell, killer, lethal, mortal, murderous, pestilent, terminal, vital Related Words baneful, deleterious, destructive, harmful, injurious, noxious, pernicious, truculent; infectious, infective, pestilential, poisonous, sublethal, toxic, virulent; dangerous, grave, grievous, hazardous, jeopardizing, menacing, parlous, perilous, risky, serious, threatening, ugly, unhealthy, unsound; bloody, internecine, sanguinary, sanguine Near Antonyms beneficial, restorative, salubrious, salutary; alleviative, corrective, curative, remedial, tonic; advantageous, beneficial, useful; nonpoisonous, nontoxic, safe Antonyms healthful, healthy, nonfatal, nonlethal, wholesome

2 having no exceptions or restrictions the deadly tedium of waiting for the fog to lift Synonyms all-out, arrant, blank, blooming [chiefly British], bodacious [Southern & Midland], categorical (also categoric), clean, complete, consummate, cotton-picking, crashing, damn, damned, dead, absolute, definite, downright, dreadful, fair, flat, flat-out, out-and-out, outright, perfect, plumb, profound, pure, rank, regular, sheer, simple, stark, stone, straight-out, thorough, thoroughgoing, total, unadulterated, unalloyed, unconditional, unmitigated, unqualified, utter, veryRelated Words authentic, classic, genuine, real, veritable; constant, endless, eternal, perpetual, undying, unremitting; extreme, unrestricted; confirmed, habitual, hopeless, inveterate; extraordinary, frightful, horrible, huge, main, superlative, supreme, surpassing, terrible, terrificNear Antonyms doubtful, dubious, equivocal, qualified, questionable, restricted, uncertain

3 of, relating to, or suggestive of death a deadly pallor spread across her face as the tragic news gradually sank in Synonyms dead, deathly, mortal, mortuaryRelated Words cadaverous; ghostlike, ghostly, phantom, spectral; inactive, inert, inoperative, lifeless, quiescent, still; macabre; baleful, fatal, fateful, fell, killer, lethal, murderous, pestilentNear Antonyms active, alive, animate, breathing, live, living; animated, bouncing, brisk, energetic, frisky, gay, jaunty, jazzy, lively, peppy, perky, pert, racy, snappy, spanking, sparky, spirited, sprightful, sprightly, springy, vigorous, vital, vivacious, zippy; able-bodied, chipper, fit, hale, healthy, hearty, robust, sound, well, whole, wholesome