Synonyms of damaging

damaging 1 of 2

adjective

ˈda-mi-jiŋ 

as in harmful

causing or capable of causing harm

the damaging effects of the sun on unprotected skin

Synonyms & Similar Words

• harmful
• detrimental
• dangerous
• adverse
• bad
• hazardous
• injurious
• poisonous
• deleterious
• pernicious
• infectious
• prejudicial
• hurtful
• evil
• noxious
• baneful
• destructive
• mischievous
• wicked
• ill
• hostile
• baleful
• deadly
• unsafe
• nocuous
• threatening
• risky
• lethal
• venomous
• infective
• sinister
• unfriendly
• inimical
• ominous
• insidious
• menacing
• fatal
• contagious
• perilous
• unhealthy
• ruinous
• unsound
• unhealthful
• malignant
• jeopardizing
• pestilential
• killer
• unwholesome
• imperiling
• pestilent
• pestiferous
• nasty
• parlous
• noisome

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• beneficial
• harmless
• safe
• benign
• useful
• innocuous
• innocent
• advantageous
• favorable
• good
• inoffensive
• healthy
• helpful
• healthful
• salutary
• propitious
• wholesome
• hurtless
• remedial
• anodyne
• sound
• salubrious
• secure
• curative
• palliative
• nondestructive
• nontoxic
• noncorrosive
• nonpoisonous
• nonfatal
• benignant
• nonlethal
• noninfectious
• nonpolluting
• nonvenomous

damaging

2 of 2

verb

present participle of damage

1

as in injuring

to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of

the explosion in the sewers damaged the entire city's water supply

Synonyms & Similar Words

• injuring
• marring
• compromising
• crippling
• hurting
• weakening
• impairing
• harming
• eroding
• spoiling
• breaking
• destroying
• undermining
• disfiguring
• ruining
• vitiating
• defacing
• crossing (up)
• shattering
• deteriorating
• bloodying
• blemishing
• wounding
• battering
• flawing
• wrecking
• crabbing
• endamaging
• demolishing
• devastating
• enervating
• enfeebling
• tarnishing
• blighting
• smashing
• denting
• wearing (away)
• torturing
• scouring
• crushing
• disabling
• washing out
• mutilating
• wasting
• tormenting
• lacerating
• botching
• decimating
• annihilating
• maiming
• mangling
• pulverizing
• hamstringing
• bashing
• queering
• gumming (up)
• clobbering
• dinging
• wiping out
• razing
• desolating
• totaling
• tearing down
• dashing
• scourging
• dinting
• laming
• doing in
• banging up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• repairing
• rebuilding
• fixing
• reconstructing
• helping
• healing
• revamping
• patching
• renovating
• reconditioning
• mending
• curing
• rehabilitating
• rectifying
• remedying
• improving
• enhancing
• revising
• remodeling
• doctoring
• editing
• enriching
• ameliorating
• refining
• perfecting
• bettering
• meliorating

2

as in wounding

to cause bodily damage to

his knee was badly damaged in the accident, and he walked with a limp for months

Synonyms & Similar Words

• injuring
• wounding
• hurting
• bruising
• harming
• tearing
• torturing
• scarring
• battering
• crippling
• lacerating
• blowing out
• impairing
• mutilating
• scathing
• tormenting
• scalding
• afflicting
• straining
• nicking
• grazing
• maiming
• mangling
• abusing
• cutting
• creasing
• hamstringing
• contusing
• gashing
• bloodying
• spoiling
• scraping
• goring
• marring
• maltreating
• laming
• laying up
• blemishing
• aggrieving

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• fixing
• healing
• curing
• remedying
• mending

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of damaging

Adjective

That internal frustration has coincided with one of the most damaging stretches of departures in DeepMind’s history. — Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2026

Flooding impacts could become more serious and damaging in these locations. — Briana Waxman, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026

Verb

Pulling a contract forward may secure short-term revenue while damaging a strategically important relationship. — Carsten Polenz, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2026

ComEd crews working to restore power to thousands of customers in Illinois following damaging storms earlier this week will need a few more days before everything is back to normal, officials said on Thursday. — Sabrina Franza, CBS News, 13 Aug. 2026