Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Causing emotional pain or distress: Describes words, actions, or behaviors that wound someone's feelings, causing sadness, anger, or psychological harm.
   • Causing physical injury or damage: Describes something that inflicts bodily harm or is detrimental to physical well-being.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective (Causing emotional pain):

  • His hurtful comments made her cry.
  • It was hurtful to be excluded from the team.
  • She regretted her hurtful remark immediately after saying it.

• Adjective (Causing physical harm):

  • The chemical was hurtful to the skin. (Note: While correct, "harmful" or "damaging" is more common for physical contexts.)
  • Exposure to such loud noise is hurtful to your hearing.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• Comparative and Superlative Forms: "more hurtful", "most hurtful", "less hurtful", "least hurtful".
  • Silence can sometimes be more hurtful than angry words.
• Used with prepositions: Typically used with "to".
  • Gossip is very hurtful to its target.
• Contextual Note: In modern usage, "hurtful" is most frequently applied to emotional or psychological harm rather than physical harm. For purely physical contexts, words like "harmful", "injurious", or "damaging" are often preferred.

Variants and Related Words

• Hurt (verb/noun): To cause pain or distress; the pain or distress itself.
  • Verb: His words hurt her deeply.
  • Noun: She tried to hide the hurt in her eyes.
• Hurtfully (adverb): In a manner that causes hurt.
  • He spoke hurtfully without thinking.
• Hurtfulness (noun): The quality of being hurtful.
  • The sheer hurtfulness of the accusation was shocking.

Synonyms

• Upsetting: Causing emotional disturbance.
• Painful: Causing mental or physical distress.
• Wounding: Causing an injury, especially to feelings.
• Damaging: Causing physical or reputational harm.
• Deleterious (formal): Causing harm or damage, often slowly or subtly.

Antonyms

• Kind: Having a gentle, caring nature.
• Healing: Tending to cure or soothe.
• Comforting: Serving to alleviate sorrow or distress.
• Harmless: Not able or likely to cause harm.
• Beneficial: Producing good or helpful results.

Idioms and Common Phrases

• "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.": A proverb suggesting physical harm is worse than verbal insults. Ironically, it is often cited to highlight that words indeed be very hurtful.
• "A hurtful truth is better than a comforting lie.": A saying implying that it is more valuable to hear a painful truth than a pleasant falsehood.

Adjective

1. harmful to living things
   • deleterious chemical additives
2. causing hurt
   • her hurtful unconsidered words