Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of harmless Among those millions, some may be harmless surprises, while others could be linked to scams like this one. Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025 Lauren captioned the post, a playful nod to the harmless fib. Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 21 Oct. 2025 Completely harmless to the spacecraft, the event provides a rare and fortuitous alignment — and a unique opportunity to directly sample material from a comet from beyond our region of the cosmos. Keith Cooper, Space.com, 21 Oct. 2025 These studies don’t mean that polygyny is harmless. David W. Lawson, The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for harmless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harmless
Adjective
  • But what had once been raucous and raunchy mischief, was now benign horseplay.
    Time, Time, 30 Oct. 2025
  • According to a 2015 Time Magazine story, the tradition of benign pranks began sometime in the 1930s and 1940s in the United States, brought on perhaps as a way to defuse the tensions of economic devastation and the pain of war.
    Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Contractors working on the project recently completed pouring the foundation for what will provide smaller housing units meant to make quarantining detainees with communicable illnesses safer and easier.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 3 Nov. 2025
  • In extremely dense fog where visibility is near zero, the best course of action is to first turn on your hazard lights, then simply pull into a safe location such as a parking lot of a local business, and stop.
    CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • De Silva, police noted, was an innocent bystander who was not involved in the quarrel and was not believed to have been the target.
    Liam Quinn, PEOPLE, 26 Oct. 2025
  • So that seemingly innocent Machu Picchu stamp—one of the most popular souvenir stamps around—could be viewed not as a harmless keepsake but as an unauthorized alteration that might jeopardize your ability to travel.
    Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • These innocuous-seeming actions can kindle dry vegetation, potentially spawning a wildfire.
    CA Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 27 Oct. 2025
  • But these seemingly innocuous decisions could stand to pose a serious threat to society at large, as argued below.
    Yoshua Bengio, Time, 22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The chocolate and vanilla are straightforward and inoffensive, but the Chocolate Banana and Cold Brew Coffee are where Koia really shines.
    Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 30 Oct. 2025
  • The couple turns out to be blandly inoffensive, and after their brief encounter, the two women change their topic of conversation, moving on to dating and the narrator’s experience using dating apps.
    Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Air frying is healthier, faster, and doesn't splatter grease all over your kitchen.
    Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Even when participants’ average blood pressure seemed healthy, those with the most erratic readings — combined with stiffer arteries — showed telltale signs of brain aging, the study found.
    Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 3 Nov. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Harmless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harmless. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on harmless

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!