harmful

harm·ful

adjective \ˈhärm-fəl\

Definition of HARMFUL

: of a kind likely to be damaging : injurious

— harm·ful·ly \-fə-lē\ adverb

— harm·ful·ness noun

Examples of HARMFUL

1. <DDT has been proven to be extremely harmful to the environment.>

First Known Use of HARMFUL

14th century

Related to HARMFUL

Synonyms

adverse, bad, baleful, baneful, 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