Standard Lemma guide

lethality

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /liˈθælɪti/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ælɪti
  • CMU ARPABET: L IY0 TH AE1 L AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The fact of something being lethal; the ability of something to kill.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The degree of lethal (mortal) danger that something (usually a disease or a weapon) presents; the magnitude of its power to kill organisms exposed to it; this property is indirectly measured by any of various proxy rates, including mortality rate, case fatality rate, or infection fatality rate (for diseases) or kill rate (for weapons, pesticides, or parasites).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the quality of being deadly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deadliness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: unwholesomeness, morbidness, morbidity

Narrower terms: fatality

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English lethal Proto-Indo-European *-teh2 Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh2ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English lethality From lethal + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: леталност (letalnost) — ability of something to kill
  • Dutch: dodelijkheid — ability of something to kill
  • Luxembourgish: Letalitéit — ability of something to kill
  • Tagalog: pagkakamatay — ability of something to kill
  • Bulgarian: смъртност (smǎrtnost) — rate of death
  • German: Sterblichkeit — rate of death
  • German: Letalität — rate of death