invasive
adj.adj. describing something that spreads quickly and causes harm, like a plant, a disease, or an army. It can also describe medical treatments that involve cutting into the body.
adj. tending to spread aggressively and harmfully into new areas or tissues; also describes medical procedures requiring entry into the body through an incision or puncture.
The doctor says this surgery is not very invasive.
The gardener spent the entire weekend pulling up invasive weeds that were killing the local flowers.
While laparoscopic techniques are considered minimally invasive, they still carry the inherent risks of general anesthesia and potential internal scarring that any surgical intervention entails.
PIE word *h₁én The adjective is derived from Middle English invasif (“of a weapon: offensive”), from Middle French invasif, Old French invasif (“invasive”) (modern French invasif), from Medieval Latin invāsīvus, from Latin invāsus (“entered; invaded”) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives). Invāsus is the perfect passive participle of invādō (“to enter; to invade”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside’) + vādō (“to go; to rush; to walk”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to go, proceed; to pass, traverse”)). The noun is derived from the adjective.
Often used to describe non-native species in ecology or aggressive tumors in oncology.