pestilent adj 1: exceedingly harmful [syn: {baneful}, {deadly}, {pernicious}, {pestilent}] 2: likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease; "a pestilential malignancy in the air"- Jonathan Swift; "plaguey fevers" [syn: {pestilent}, {pestilential}, {pestiferous}, {plaguey}]
Pestilent \Pes"ti*lent\, a. [L. pestilens, -entis, fr. pestis pest: cf. F. pestilent.] Pestilential; noxious; pernicious; mischievous. "Corrupt and pestilent." --Milton. "What a pestilent knave is this same!" --Shak. [1913 Webster]