harmful

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Etymology

From Middle English harmful, from Old English *hearmful (suggested by hearmfullīċ ("harmful; hurtful")), equivalent to harm + -ful.

Cognate with German harmvoll, Danish harmfuld, Swedish harmfull.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈhɑːmfl̩/
• (America) IPA: /ˈhɑɹmfl̩/

Adjective

harmful (comparative harmfuller, superlative harmfullest)

1. Causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.

   Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight.

   Smoking is harmful to the lungs.

   Burning fossil fuels is harmful to the environment.

Synonyms

• injurious; see also Thesaurus:harmful

Antonyms

• beneficial
• harmless

Translations

• French: dangereux, nuisible, nocif, préjudiciable
• German: schädlich
• Italian: dannoso, nocivo
• Portuguese: prejudicial, nocivo, danoso, daninho
• Russian: вре́дный
• Spanish: perjudicial, dañino, nocivo, dañoso

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