Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Swiftness of motion; celerity.

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

  • noun rare Swiftness; celerity.

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

  • noun archaic swiftness; celerity

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin pernicitas. See pernicious.

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Examples

  • The story concerned a big burly Westerner in love with a Forbidden Asian woman, and it was intended to highlight the pernicity of prejudice, which is why they cast Jennifer Jones as the Asian woman.

    Tuesday, July 28 – The Bleat. 2009

  • An 'what's more, dey wasn't so pernicity 'bout what dey got.

    This Way to Christmas 1916

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