causing or able to cause harm; hurtful
adjective
The definition of harmful is something that causes damage or is able to be hurtful.
A chemical that causes you to become sick is an example of a chemical that would be described as harmful.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"harmful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful>.
APA Style
harmful. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful
harmful
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"harmful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful>.
APA Style
harmful. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful
harmful
adjective
Causing or capable of causing harm; injurious.
Related Forms:
- harm′ful·ly
adverb
- harm′ful·ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"harmful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful>.
APA Style
harmful. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful
Adjective
(comparative harmfuller or more harmful, superlative harmfullest or most harmful)
Usage notes
- Nouns to which "harmful" is often applied: effect, consequence, impact, influence, emission, chemical, ingredient, substance, gas, agent, additive, drug, radiation, dust, organism, plant, animal, insect, action, act, behavior, component, content, activity, interference, use.
Origin
From harm + -ful.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"harmful." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 17 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful>.
APA Style
harmful. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Harmful
Sentence Examples
- The Egyptian rule proved harmful to the country.
- The ordinary pleasures of life were for them not merely negligible but positively harmful inasmuch as they interrupted the operation of the will.
- An institution upholding honor, the source of emulation, is one similar to the Legion d'honneur of the great Emperor Napoleon, not harmful but helpful to the success of the service, but not a class or court privilege.
- Though harmful to the economic condition of the island, it left agriculture comparatively unaffected, because the insolvent institutions had never fulfilled the objects of their foundation.
- Spiritualism has been accused of a tendency to produce insanity, but spiritualistic sittings carried on by private persons do not appear to he harmful provided those who find in themselves "mediumistic" powers do not lose their self-control and exercise these powers when they do not desire to do so, or against their better judgment.
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