Select the meaning of the underlined word in the following sentence.The chemicals in plastic containers may be deleterious to children’s health
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A
Harmful
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B
Deleting
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C
Delightful
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D
Inoffensive
The term deleterious means harmful, describing substances that cause damage or injury to biological systems through toxic exposure.
A) Harmful
Harmful precisely captures deleterious' clinical meaning: producing injury, impairment, or adverse health effects. Derived from Latin deleterius ("worse"), the term specifically denotes pathological consequences rather than mere unpleasantness, exactly matching harmful's capacity to describe agents that compromise physiological integrity.
B) Deleting
Deleting refers to erasure or removal of information, digital elimination unrelated to physiological harm. Though sharing superficial phonetic similarity, deleterious evolved from delere ("to destroy") in its damaging sense, not its erasing sense, making this a false cognate confusion.
C) Delightful
Delightful denotes pleasurable experience, positive affective state diametrically opposed to deleterious' negative health implications. No etymological connection exists; their semantic fields occupy opposite valence poles.
D) Inoffensive
Inoffensive describes neutrality or absence of provocation, harmlessness rather than harm-production. Deleterious explicitly denotes active damage causation; inoffensive denotes passive non-interference, representing inverse relationships to biological impact.
Conclusion
Deleterious specifically denotes capacity to inflict biological damage, distinct from deleting (erasure), delightful (pleasure), or inoffensive (neutrality). Harmful alone captures deleterious' essential character: the property of substances that actively compromise physiological integrity through toxic mechanisms.
Topic Flashcards
Click to FlipWhat does noxious mean?
Harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant. (Often used for substances).
What is the meaning of adverse in a medical context?
Preventing success or development; harmful; unfavorable (e.g., an adverse drug reaction).
What is a toxin?
A poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms.
What is the term for something that causes cancer?
Carcinogenic.
What is a formal synonym for deleterious?
Harmful, detrimental, or injurious.