Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Causing or capable of causing harm, damage, or injury: Describes something that has a detrimental or negative effect on a person, living thing, or system.
   • Injurious to physical or mental well-being: Indicates that something can impair health, safety, or proper functioning.

Usage

The adjective "harmful" is used to describe a thing, substance, action, or influence that is likely to hurt someone or something. It is often followed by the preposition "to" when specifying the target of the harm. It is a gradable adjective, so it can be modified by adverbs like "very," "extremely," or "potentially."

Examples

• General Use:

  • Smoking is harmful to your health.
  • The chemical spill had a harmful impact on the local ecosystem.
  • Not all bacteria are harmful; some are beneficial.

• With Preposition "to":

  • Too much screen time can be harmful to a child's development.
  • These pesticides are harmful to bees.

Advanced Usage

• "Harmful effects/consequences": A common collocation referring to the negative outcomes of an action or substance.
  • The report detailed the harmful effects of air pollution.
• "Environmentally harmful": Specifically describes something that damages the natural world.
  • The company phased out environmentally harmful packaging.
• "Deem/consider something harmful": Used in formal or legal contexts to state an official judgment.
  • The substance was deemed harmful and banned.

Variants and Related Words

• Harm (n/v): The damage or injury itself, or the act of causing it.
  • The storm caused great harm.
• Harmfully (adv): In a way that causes harm.
  • The drug can act harmfully on the liver.
• Harmfulness (n): The quality of being harmful.
  • Scientists measured the harmfulness of the radiation.

Synonyms

• Damaging: Causing physical damage.
• Detrimental: Tending to cause harm (often slightly more formal).
• Injurious: Causing or likely to cause injury (formal).
• Deleterious: Causing harm often in a subtle or gradual way (formal).

Antonyms

• Harmless: Not able or likely to cause harm.
• Beneficial: Producing good or helpful results.
• Innocuous: Not harmful or offensive.

Related Phrases and Collocations

• "Harmful to": The standard construction to link the cause of harm to its recipient.
  • Gossip can be harmful to relationships.
• "Potentially harmful": Describes something that could be harmful under certain conditions.
  • A potentially harmful side effect.
• "Do more harm than good" (Idiom): To have a net negative effect.
  • The new policy might do more harm than good.

Adjective

1. causing or capable of causing harm
   • too much sun is harmful to the skin
   • harmful effects of smoking