Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use insidious in a sentence

27 example sentences · adjective

Insidious means causing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner. Example: “Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.”

Examples of insidious by meaning

adjectiveCausing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.

  • At some point in time they may become the source of an insidious cancer.1997, Matthew Wood, The book of herbal wisdom: using plants as medicine
  • The nurse always must be alert to signs of slow leak or insidious infiltration.2007, Sharon Weinstein, Ada Lawrence Plumer, Principles and practice of intravenous therapy

adjectiveIntending to entrap; alluring but harmful.

  • Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.
  • The atmosphere of this insidious city comes out to meet him the moment he touches the European shore; for in London he meets Maria Gostrey just over from France.1969, Dorothy Brewster, John Angus Burrell, Dead reckonings in fiction
  • Without mincing words he would comment on his favorite theme, namely, the insidious scheme of the international Communists to conquer the free world.1983, James C. H. Shen, “Rejoining the Government”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally...

adjectiveTreacherous.

  • The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors.
  • ‘Believe me,’ he shouted, ‘these insidious folk talk dangerous nonsense.1912, Ralph Straus, The prison without a wall

More sentences with insidious

  • It was his most dark, insidious and sinister project of all.2026 January 21, David Smith, “Trump paints himself as great white hope in racism-drenched Davos speech”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived…. From the entry fractious
  • Blasterbating may seem like a First World problem, yet, its implications are far more insidious.2024 July 5, Kendra Stanton Lee, “Blasterbating Needs to Stop. Turn Down For What? – Opinion”, in Newsweek, archived from the original on…. From the entry blasturbating
  • The trickle-down benefit of spending by the super-rich is insignificant in comparison to the insidious damage.2018 September, Martin Vander Weyer, “Cheques & Imbalances”, in Literary Review. From the entry superrich
  • "However, the proliferation of ag-gag also has other insidious ramifications at the local, national, and global scales."2015, H. Louise Davis, Karyn Pilgrim, Madhudaya Sinha, The Ecopolitics of Consumption: The Food Trade. From the entry ag-gag
  • Slumism like an insidious virus, consuming city after city where people live.1966, Hubert H. Humphrey, Better Living in Great Cities: Excerpts from an Address, page 6. From the entry slumism
  • It was appendicitis of that insidious and misleading type to which children are particularly liable.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards…. From the entry appendicitis
  • For a moment she felt uneasy, as if she were being trapped by something sweetfully insidious.1920, Charles Caldwell Dobie, chapter IV, in The Blood Red Dawn, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, page 42. From the entry sweetfully
  • Morison was a past master in the art of insidious boasting.1915 December 4 – 1916 January 8, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter XVII, in The Son of Tarzan, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg…. From the entry past master
  • A cobweb, night-spun, hung in an insidious circle from branch to branch, facing her.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia…. From the entry cobweb
  • The result was the passing of laws forbidding the use of such "blipvert" advertising, but rumors of its insidious presence abounded.2003, Andy Fyfe, When the Levee Breaks: The Making of Led Zeppelin IV. From the entry blipvert
  • The long arm of 'friendship' is much more insidious.2001, Eamon Delaney, The Accidental Diplomat: My Years in the Irish Foreign Service, 1987-1995, New Island, →ISBN, page 336. From the entry peacespeak
  • In making a diagnosis of X-disease, one must consider the insidious onset, slow course, and number of animals affected.1949, United States. Animal Industry Bureau, Report of the Preliminary Survey on "X" Disease, page 10. From the entry X-disease
  • The new “gold rush” into the inner environment of the human psyche is well on its way to effecting parallel, if even more insidious destruction.2026 January 18, “How can we defend ourselves from the new plague of ‘human fracking’? Big tech treats our attention like a resource to be…. From the entry human fracking
  • The insidious effect of workslop is that it shifts the burden of the work downstream, requiring the receiver to interpret, correct, or redo the work.2025 September 22, Kate Niederhoffer, Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, Angela Lee, Alex Liebscher, Kristina Rapuano, Jeffrey T. Hancock…. From the entry workslop
  • In that regard, it is an insidious phenomenon, reminiscent of the breakdown in price signalling that helped contribute to the fall of the USSR.2022 October 6, Dario Garcia Giner, “When Currencies (and Nations) Fall; The Case of Lebanon’s Bad Data”, in The Blind Spot, archived from…. From the entry shitflation
  • A dark insidious force cloaked in an enigmatic shroud of maniacal secrecy had seeped it's way into the far cavernous regions of the subconscious mind.2020 October 2, Clive Atwater, “Chapter Ten Ghastly Finds In Hallow Valley”, in The Boogieman, Archway Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry boogen
  • Suddenly she felt an insidious suspicion.2008, Ann Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Random House, →ISBN. From the entry in the eyes of
  • They were short days, for into them were crowded many hours of insidious instruction of the unlettered child by the lonely woman.1915 December 4 – 1916 January 8, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter XVI, in The Son of Tarzan, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg &…. From the entry unlettered
  • Sweeping was like the pedilavium, a purification of the floor of the house and the feet of the believer, contaminated by the insidious flow of a dissipating humanity.2003, Ron Southern, “Strangers Below: An Archaeology of Distinctions in an Eighteenth-century Religious Community”, in Susan Lawrence…. From the entry pedilavium
  • This legislation represents a substantial step toward ending an insidious form of discrimination that is plaguing African-American and Hispanic drivers on our roadways — racial profiling.1999, Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 106th Congress, First Session, vol. 145, part 5, p. 6720 (Google preview). From the entry racial profiling

Meaning of insidious

  1. adjective Causing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
  2. adjective Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.
  3. adjective Treacherous.

Full definition of insidious

Questions about insidious in a sentence

How do you use insidious in a sentence?
Insidious is used as an adjective. For example: “Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.”
What is a short sentence with insidious?
“Suddenly she felt an insidious suspicion.”
What does insidious mean?
Insidious means causing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: insidious (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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