insidious vs invidious
Definitions
adjective
- working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
- beguiling but harmful
- intended to entrap
Examples
He added: 'I consider them insidious and extremely dangerous.
The latest strategy is now seen dropping unsupported accusations across the media spectrum to the effect that the intelligence agency's assignment of Ambassador Joseph Wilson to look into the now-discredited Iraq/Niger/uranium claims were all part of a long-term insidious scheme to try and discredit the Bush Administration.
I wrote about coming out in the family and about the insidious homophobia of siblings.
Definitions
adjective
- containing or implying a slight or showing prejudice
Examples
Distrust naturally creates distrust, and by nothing is good-will and kind conduct more speedily changed than by invidious jealousies and uncandid imputations, whether expressed or implied.
Yet again invidious comparisons are made with our continental neighbours whose milk consumption, in part because of very different climatic conditions, is overwhelmingly of UHT milk.
By the way, in case you never thought about it, “Reds” is an invidious term calculated to dehumanize radical activists.
