nocuous

noc•u•ous (NOK-yoo-uhs)  adj

Definition:
likely to cause damage or injury; harmful; noxious

nocuousness noun; nocuously adverb

Origin:
1635; from L. nocuus, from nocere from *nok-s-, suffixed form of PIE base *nek- "death"

Related:
Synonyms: noxious, dangerous, deadly, harmful, injurious, malignant, poisonous, damaging
Antonyms: innocuous
Related Words: noxious, innocent, nuisance

Sentence Examples:
• "Don't care for't. Take back your choo, I'll keep me honor,--your plug, I mean, sonny. A gentleman of my eminence, sir, a natural-born navigator on the high seas of social life,--are you on, me bye?--a gentleman, I repeat, sir, whose canoe the mutations of all that is human have chucked on this here dry, thrice damned dry latitude, sir, this nocuous plague-spot of civilization,--say, kid, what t' hell am I talkin' about?Damn if I ain't clean forgot." -Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, Alexander Berkman

• But it is likely that Joyce Kilmer would only have succeeded in inadvertently bringing the religious singer once more into disrepute. There is perhaps nothing nocuous in his creed, as he expressed it in a formal interview: "I hope ... poetry ... is reflecting faith ... in God and His Son and the Holy Ghost." -The Poet's Poet, Elizabeth Atkins

• The media plays a particularly nocuous role in the Americans' willful ignorance about energy policy. I really hope this reporter will make this matter a major point of his career and report more on our unrealistic energy policy. -Time, 2010

The Storyline
... however nocuous it was to their virtual social lives.

Sources: Dictionary.com, Online Etymology

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