insidioso

adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“insidioso” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #90,148 among 938 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,148
frequency rank, Portuguese
938
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - que contém insídia; que age de modo ardiloso, traiçoeiro ou enganador

Corpus desk

Index PT-insidioso · insidioso · Portuguese

insidioso · rank #90,148 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,148
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 938
  • PHOTO-FINISH incinerar

Nearest frequency peer: incinerar (-8 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “insidioso”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “insidioso” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for insidioso
PropertyValue
Headwordinsidioso
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
Letters9
Frequency rank#90,148
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “insidioso” em português

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).insidiosocai nesta cauda de raridade:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “incinerar” (#90,140), “irrevogavelmente” (#90,156), “illustration” (#90,135). Entre 938 lemas com “I”, “insidioso” fica em #90,148. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

insidioso is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #90,148 among 938 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

insidioso doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular Portuguese conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Portuguese form is insidioso, spelled I-N-S-I-D-I-O-S-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    que contém insídia; que age de modo ardiloso, traiçoeiro ou enganador
  2. 2
    que se desenvolve de forma gradual e difícil de perceber; sorrateiro; de evolução lenta e muitas vezes assintomática
  3. 3
    que aparenta ser inofensivo, mas encerra efeito pernicioso ou intenção dissimulada

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how insidioso appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Uma pergunta insidiosa pode induzir o interlocutor ao erro
  2. A doença tem curso insidioso, sem sintomas claros no início

Synonyms

traiçoeiroardilosopérfidoenganadorsorrateirodissimuladocapciosopernicioso

Antonyms

francodiretoexplícitolealhonestoaberto

This word in other languages

insidious(English)insidioso(Español)insidieux(Français)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "insidioso"?
"insidioso" is spelled I-N-S-I-D-I-O-S-O.
What does "insidioso" mean?
As an adjective, "insidioso" means: que contém insídia; que age de modo ardiloso, traiçoeiro ou enganador
What language does "insidioso" come from?
"insidioso" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "insidioso", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

incinerar#90,140namorador#90,273desgostar#89,959crackdown#89,912

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list