lethality

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The fact of something being lethal; the ability of something to kill.

   “Title 10 section 129a of the US code governing civilian personnel management in the armed forces says that the secretary of defense “may not reduce the civilian workforce programmed full-time equivalent levels unless the Secretary conducts an appropriate analysis” of how those firings could impact the US military’s lethality and readiness.”

   “In announcing the review, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new health secretary, said in a statement that “antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues.””

2. (countable, uncountable)The degree of lethal (mortal) danger that something (usually a disease or a weapon) presents; the magnitude of its power to kill organisms exposed to it; this property is indirectly measured by any of various proxy rates, including mortality rate, case fatality rate, or infection fatality rate (for diseases) or kill rate (for weapons, pesticides, or parasites).

   “According to the US Environmental Protection Agency [ 6 ], long-chain substituted propanediamines, the chemical group these compounds belongs to, are considered to be toxic to aquatic organisms, with observed lethality for plankton and fish at concentrations ranging from 0.75 to 170 µg L −1 .”