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deleterious

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of deleterious

causing or capable of causing harm
  • Nicotine has long been recognized as a deleterious substance.
Synonyms of deleterious

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

hostile, inimical, unfriendly

contagious, deadly, infectious, infective, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, poisonous, venomous

insidious, menacing, ominous, sinister, threatening

hazardous, imperiling (or imperilling), jeopardizing, perilous, risky, unsafe, unsound

nasty, noisome, unhealthful, unhealthy, unwholesome

destructive, fatal, killer, lethal, malignant, ruinous
Near Antonyms of deleterious

advantageous, beneficial, useful

favorable, good, propitious

curative, healthful, healthy, helpful, palliative, remedial, salubrious, salutary, wholesome

secure, sound

benignant
Antonyms of deleterious

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

Synonym Discussion of deleterious

pernicious, baneful, noxious, deleterious, detrimental mean exceedingly harmful. pernicious implies irreparable harm done through evil or insidious corrupting or undermining.
    • the claim that pornography has a pernicious effect on society
baneful implies injury through poisoning or destroying.
    • the baneful notion that discipline destroys creativity
noxious applies to what is both offensive and injurious to the health of a body or mind.
    • noxious chemical fumes
deleterious applies to what has an often unsuspected harmful effect.
    • a diet found to have deleterious effects
detrimental implies obvious harmfulness to something specified.
    • the detrimental effects of excessive drinking

Learn More about deleterious

  1. Dictionary: Definition of deleterious Medical Dictionary: Definition of deleterious Nglish: Translation of deleterious for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of deleterious for Arabic speakers

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