From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
pestiferous
adj 1: contaminated with infecting organisms; "dirty wounds";
"obliged to go into infected rooms"- Jane Austen [syn:
contaminated, dirty, infected]
2: likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease; "a
pestilential malignancy in the air"- Jonathan Swift;
"plaguey fevers" [syn: pestilent, pestilential,
plaguey]
3: tending to corrupt or pervert [syn: corruptive,
perversive]
4: causing irritation or annoyance; "tapping an annoying rhythm
on his glass with his fork"; "aircraft noise is
particularly bothersome near the airport"; "found it
galling to have to ask permission"; "an irritating delay";
"nettlesome paperwork"; "a pesky mosquito"; "swarms of
pestering gnats"; "a plaguey newfangled safety catch"; "a
teasing and persistent thought annoyed him"; "a vexatious
child"; "it is vexing to have to admit you are wrong"
[syn: annoying, bothersome, galling, irritating,
nettlesome, pesky, pestering, plaguy, plaguey,
teasing, vexatious, vexing]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Pestiferous \Pes*tif"er*ous\, a. [L. pestiferus, pestifer;
pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestif[`e]re.]
1. Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant;
infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies. "Poor,
pestiferous creatures begging alms." --Evelyn.
"Unwholesome and pestiferous occupations." --Burke.
[1913 Webster]
2. Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious;
hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue.
[1913 Webster]
Pestiferous reports of men very nobly held. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]