Synonyms for harmful
- adjective
All synonyms
Adjective
detrimental, deleterious formal, injurious, hurtful, damaging, prejudicial, pernicious, noxious, mischievous, bad, baneful, destructive, evil, inimical, disadvantageous, counter-productive, ill, unsafe, ruinous, adverse, noisome formal, malicious, abusive, fatal, malevolent, disastrous, baleful, sinister, wicked, malefic, iniquitous, maleficent, hurtsome, poisonous, unwholesome, sinful, unfavorable US, unfavourable UK, untoward, malign, malignant, nefarious, vicious, naughty, calamitous
Definitions
- adj. 1
Causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.
Smoking is harmful to the lungs.
Example sentences
- damaging Tom didn't even apologize for damaging that thing.
- detrimental It's not detrimental, but not beneficial either.
- hurtful The consequences of cheating are extremely hurtful.
- injurious The argument that smoking is injurious has become accepted.
- mischievous The mischievous little boy loved his dad very much.
- noxious The old warehouse is no longer storing any noxious chemicals.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| harmful | steady | |
| damaging | steady | |
| detrimental | steady | |
| hurtful | rising | |
| injurious | falling | |
| mischievous | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- bad1, ill1
- 4 letters
- evil2
- 5 letters
- fatal2
- 6 letters
- wicked2, unsafe2, sinful2, malign2
- 7 letters
- adverse2, abusive3, vicious2, naughty2, hurtful2, noxious2, ruinous3, baleful2, malefic, noisome, baneful
- 8 letters
- damaging3, sinister3, untoward3, inimical4, hurtsome
- 9 letters
- malicious3, poisonous3, malignant3, nefarious4, injurious4
- 10 letters
- disastrous3, pernicious3, malevolent4, maleficent, calamitous4, iniquitous
- 11 letters
- destructive3, detrimental4, unfavorable5, mischievous3, deleterious5, prejudicial4, unwholesome
- 12 letters
- unfavourable
- 15 letters
- disadvantageous5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (evil2 = 2 syllables).