word of the week #8

pernicious

found in Gertz v. Rober Welch Inc. 418 U.S. 323 (1974) in Zelezny pg 74.

However pernicious an opinion may seem, we depend for its correction not on the conscience of judges and juries but on the competition of other ideas.

Pernicious (adj.): having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way

In high school, girls can have pernicious opinions about each other.