Deadly
Deadly adjective - Likely to cause or capable of causing death.
Usage example: the doctors were alarmed about the outbreak of the deadly new virus
Lethal is a synonym for deadly in fatal topic. In some cases you can use "Lethal" instead an adjective "Deadly", when it comes to topics like live, property, noxious, poisonous. popular alternative
Nearby Word: dead
Lethal
Lethal adjective - Likely to cause or capable of causing death.
Usage example: we were lucky that the snake's venom wasn't lethal, and our friend turned out to be all right
Deadly is a synonym for lethal in fatal topic. You can use "Deadly" instead an adjective "Lethal", if it concerns topics such as live, property, noxious, poisonous. popular alternative
Nearby Word: lethality
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
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In a 2005 segment on avian flu, The Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry described the disease thusly: "A fatal killer that, when lethal, can be deadly."
Source: Shaped Like Itself -
Reusable, silent, deadly, and extremely accurate, they make lethal stealth runs a cakewalk, even if they aren't very flashy.
Source: Video Game / Metro: Last Light -
The planet Elba II had a poisonous atmosphere that would kill humans breathing it before very long, "The Way to Eden" had a planet that was technically habitable (right sunlight and air quality), but all the flora excreted a deadly acid, and the fruit was lethal.
Source: All Planets Are Earth-Like
Cite this Source
Lethal and Deadly. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/deadly/lethal
Deadly & Lethal. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/deadly/lethal>.
Lethal or Deadly. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/deadly/lethal.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "deadly" and "lethal" have occurred on timeline