baneful

bane·ful

adjective \ˈbān-fəl\

Definition of BANEFUL

1

: productive of destruction or woe : seriously harmful <a baneful influence>

2

archaic : poisonous

— bane·ful·ly \-fə-lē\ adverb

Examples of BANEFUL

1. The legislation could have a baneful effect on the poor.
2. the baneful consequences of war

First Known Use of BANEFUL

1579

Related to BANEFUL

Synonyms

adverse, bad, baleful, harmful, damaging, dangerous, deleterious, detrimental, evil, hurtful, ill, injurious, mischievous, nocuous, noxious, pernicious, prejudicial, wicked

Antonyms

anodyne, benign, harmless, hurtless, innocent, innocuous, inoffensive, safe

Related Words

hostile, inimical, unfriendly; contagious, deadly, infectious, infective, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, poisonous, venomous; insidious, menacing, ominous, sinister, threatening; hazardous, imperiling (or imperilling), jeopardizing, parlous, perilous, risky, unsafe, unsound; nasty, noisome, unhealthful, unhealthy, unwholesome; destructive, fatal, killer, lethal, malignant, ruinous

Near Antonyms

advantageous, beneficial, useful; favorable, good, propitious; curative, healthful, healthy, helpful, palliative, remedial, salubrious, salutary, wholesome; secure, sound; benignant; noncorrosive, nondestructive, nonfatal, noninfectious, nonlethal, nonpoisonous, nonpolluting, nontoxic, nonvenomous

See Synonym Discussion at pernicious

Rhymes with BANEFUL

gainful, painful