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noisome

1. Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous; unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome effluvia. Noisome pestilence.

2. Offensive to the smell or other senses; disgusting; fetid. Foul breath is noisome. Noisomely, Noisomeness.

Synonym: noxious, unwholesome, insalubrious, mischievous, destructive.

Noisome, noxious. These words have to a great extent been interchanged; but there is a tendency to make a distinction between them, applying noxious to things that inflict evil directly; as, a noxious plant, noxious practices, etc, and noisome to things that operate with a remoter influence; as, noisome vapors, a noisome pestilence, etc. Noisome has the additional sense of disqusting. A garden may be free from noxious weeds or animals; but, if recently covered with manure, it may be filled with a noisome smell.

Origin: For noysome, fr. Noy for annoy. See Annoy.