Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Harmful; noxious.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Noxious; hurtful.
  • Specifically, venomous or poisonous, as a serpent: thanatophidian; of or pertaining to the Nocua.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective rare Hurtful; noxious.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Likely to cause harm or damage

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin nocuus, from nocēre, to harm; see nek- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Perfume or cologne applied on top of body odor combines to a nocuous smell for others.

    Jodi R. R. Smith: Perfectly Polite While Working-out 2010

  • The internet makes periodic, seemingly in-nocuous appearances throughout Jennifer Egan's new novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad.

    Friend This Novel! 2010

  • Somewhere during the week shoulder pads became tied to an economic slowdown as did an almost nocuous kaleidoscope of color patterns.

    Alex Geana: Fashion's Divided 2009

  • As long as we have media celebrities like George Stephanopoulus and Bill O'Reilly constantly confronting McCain on this nocuous association with a man who feels that in a year of the most catastrophic attack on our country that it was a good year for him, the voter will know the truth ... right?

    Did You Hear What John McCain's Unrepentant Friend, Who He Sought Support From, Said? 2008

  • That innocuous graphic shows that we have a decidedly nocuous problem.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Zoe Brain 2007

  • That innocuous graphic shows that we have a decidedly nocuous problem.

    Bucks, Boomers, and Buck Rogers Zoe Brain 2007

  • Hassem had most likely purchased blossoms that were cut or plucked improperly, and therefore had lost some of their nocuous powers.

    Conan The Hunter Moore, Sean A. 1994

  • The reaction was first described in Nature as “a syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents.”

    Handbook of Stress Leo Goldberger 1993

  • Under cover of in-nocuous conversation designed to allay the interest of the soldier's two associates, they proceeded to study his per'sonal desk monitor.

    Nor Crystal Tears Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1982

  • Elric had witnessed many obscenities in his life and was moved by few of them, but this device, though superficially more in - nocuous than much he had seen, brought bile into his mouth.

    The Vanishing Tower Moorcock, Michael, 1939- 1970

Comments

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  • vs. innocuous

    January 11, 2008

  • The man seemed a comical crock to us,

    But Trumpland turned out to be populous.

    The boastful jamoke

    No longer's a joke -

    The goblin has won and he's nocuous.

    September 6, 2017