Synonyms for hurtful
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Harmful — tending to impair or damage; injurious; occasioning loss or injury
harmful, injurious, deleterious, bad, detrimental, prejudicial, pernicious, damaging, destructive, noxious, mischievous, noisome formal, evil, unwholesome, disadvantageous, baneful, inimical, baleful, hurtsome, vicious, malicious, poisonous
2. Painful
painful, grievous, distressing, agonizing, agonising UK
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Tending to impair or damage; injurious; occasioning loss or injury.
- adj. 2
Tending to hurt someone's feelings; insulting; lacerating.
Related words
- Word family
- hurt
Example sentences
- harmful There's no denying the harmful effects of smoking.
- detrimental It's not detrimental, but not beneficial either.
- deleterious Insufficient illumination is deleterious to ocular health.
- injurious The argument that smoking is injurious has become accepted.
- unkind I would not want her to remember me with unkind words.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| hurtful | rising | |
| harmful | steady | |
| detrimental | steady | |
| deleterious | falling | |
| injurious | falling | |
| unkind | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- bad1
- 4 letters
- evil2
- 6 letters
- unkind2
- 7 letters
- painful2, harmful2, vicious2, noxious2, baleful2, noisome, baneful
- 8 letters
- damaging3, grievous2, inimical4, hurtsome
- 9 letters
- malicious3, poisonous3, agonizing4, injurious4, agonising
- 10 letters
- pernicious3
- 11 letters
- destructive3, detrimental4, distressing3, mischievous3, deleterious5, prejudicial4, unwholesome
- 15 letters
- disadvantageous5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (evil2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- blessant