---
title: insidious — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «insidious» in the school dictionary: Insidious means harmful in a sneaky way that works slowly and is hard to spot. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# insidious

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Insidious, sneaky way, insidious person, insidious fog, insidious plan, wolf · **What happens:** mean, work, be, spot, pretend, plan · **To what, where:** friend, harm, room, whole village

<!-- .vabout -->
«insidious» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [insidious in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/insidious.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Insidious means harmful in a sneaky way that works slowly and is hard to spot.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:insidious:m1:1
# text = Insidious means harmful in a sneaky way that works slowly and is hard to spot.
1	Insidious	insidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	harmful	harmful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sneaky	sneaky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	works	work	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	spot	spot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Insidious |  |  |  |  | harmful *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **work** | present | a sneaky way |  |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | a sneaky way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **spot** | to-infinitive | a sneaky way *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme» |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An insidious person pretends to be a friend while secretly planning harm.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:insidious:m2:1
# text = An insidious person pretends to be a friend while secretly planning harm.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	insidious	insidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pretends	pretend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	_
9	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	secretly	secretly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	planning	plan	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
12	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | present | a insidious person |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive | a insidious person *not said here* | a friend |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **plan** | gerund | a insidious person *not said here* | harm |  |  |  | secretly *property* | vn intend-61.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harm=Topic |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The insidious fog crept into every room.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:insidious:x1:1
# text = The insidious fog crept into every room.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	insidious	insidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	fog	fog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **creep** | past | the insidious fog |  |  | every room |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into room=Destination |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The wolf's insidious plan fooled the whole village.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:insidious:x2:1
# text = The wolf's insidious plan fooled the whole village.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	insidious	insidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	fooled	fool	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fool** | past | the wolf's insidious plan | the whole village |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent village=Patient |
| 2 | **plan** |  | the wolf |  |  |  |  |  | nom plan «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Lies can be insidious because they spread quietly.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:insidious:x3:1
# text = Lies can be insidious because they spread quietly.
1	Lies	lie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	insidious	insidious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	spread	spread	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | can | Lies |  |  |  |  | insidious *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **spread** | present | Lies *= lie* |  |  |  |  | quietly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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