Venomous \Ven"om*ous\, a. [OE. venemous, venimous, F. venimeux, L. venenosus, fr. venenum poison. See Venom, and cf. Venenose.]

1. Full of venom; noxious to animal life; poisonous; as, the bite of a serpent may be venomous. [1913 Webster]

2. (Zool.) Having a poison gland or glands for the secretion of venom, as certain serpents and insects. [1913 Webster]

3. Noxious; mischievous; malignant; spiteful; as, a venomous progeny; a venomous writer. [1913 Webster]

Venomous snake (Zool.), any serpent which has poison glands and fangs, whether dangerous to man or not. These serpents constitute two tribes, the viperine serpents, or Solenoglypha, and the cobralike serpents, or Proteroglypha. The former have perforated, erectile fangs situated in the front part of the upper jaw, and are without ordinary teeth behind the fangs; the latter have permanently erect and grooved fangs, with ordinary maxillary teeth behind them. [1913 Webster] -- Ven"om*ous*ly, adv. -- Ven"om*ous*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

108 Moby Thesaurus words for "venomous": acerbic, acrid, acute, antagonistic, antipathetic, baleful, baneful, belligerent, bitter, catching, caustic, clashing, colliding, communicable, conflicting, contagious, corroding, corrosive, corrupting, corruptive, counterproductive, cutting, damaging, dangerous, deadly, deleterious, despiteful, destructive, detrimental, disadvantageous, disserviceable, distressing, drastic, embittered, envenomed, excessive, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme, fierce, full of hate, furious, great, harmful, hateful, hostile, hurtful, immoderate, infectious, infective, injurious, intemperate, intense, keen, lethal, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, mischievous, noisome, noxious, ominous, outrageous, pernicious, pestiferous, pestilential, piercing, poison, poisonous, prejudicial, quarrelsome, rancorous, repugnant, rigorous, rough, savage, scatheful, set against, severe, sharp, sore, spiteful, splenetic, splitting, tough, toxic, toxicant, toxiferous, unconscionable, vehement, venenate, veneniferous, venenous, vicious, violent, viperish, viperlike, viperous, virulent, vitriolic

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

venomous adj
1: extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom; "venomous snakes"; "a virulent insect bite" [syn: deadly, virulent]
2: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies"; "bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation" [syn: acerb, acerbic, acid, acrid, bitter, blistering, caustic, sulfurous, sulphurous, virulent, vitriolic]
3: marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful; "a malevolent lie"; "poisonous hate...in his eyes"- Ernest Hemingway; "venomous criticism"; "vicious gossip" [syn: poisonous, vicious]

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Venomous \Ven"om*ous\, a. [OE. venemous, venimous, F. venimeux, L. venenosus, fr. venenum poison. See Venom, and cf. Venenose.]

1. Full of venom; noxious to animal life; poisonous; as, the bite of a serpent may be venomous.

2. (Zo["o]l.) Having a poison gland or glands for the secretion of venom, as certain serpents and insects.

3. Noxious; mischievous; malignant; spiteful; as, a venomous progeny; a venomous writer.

Venomous snake (Zo["o]l.), any serpent which has poison glands and fangs, whether dangerous to man or not. These serpents constitute two tribes, the viperine serpents, or Solenoglypha, and the cobralike serpents, or Proteroglypha. The former have perforated, erectile fangs situated in the front part of the upper jaw, and are without ordinary teeth behind the fangs; the latter have permanently erect and grooved fangs, with ordinary maxillary teeth behind them. -- Ven"om*ous*ly, adv. -- Ven"om*ous*ness, n.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)