detrimental
/ˌdɛtɹɪˈmɛntəl/
detrimental adjective: causing damage or harm.
Adjective
detrimental (comparative more detrimental, superlative most detrimental)
- Causing damage or harm.
- Smoking tobacco can be detrimental to your health.
- "The fact is," continued he, "Lady Anne fears that my visits here may prove detrimental to what she considers your best interests. I thought myself an old, safe friend; but, as that cannot be explained to every body, she fears that I may keep off other and more eligible lovers."1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “(please specify the page)”, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC...
- Synonyms:
- harmful, damaging, injurious, deleterious, hurtful, inimical, mischievous, nocent, nocuous, noxious
- Antonyms:
- beneficial
Noun
detrimental (plural detrimentals)
- Anything harmful.
- The definition of a parasite is a microbe that lives in you or on you to its benefit and to your detriment. In other words, the detrimentals suck the life out of you.2012, Dr. Frank Springob, Bugs in My Brain, Poison on My Plate, page 137
- I'm afraid it may be the detrimentals, the poets, and æsthetes, and impressionist painters, who will rave about her.2022, M. E. Braddon, Beyond These Voices
detrimental meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
detrimental in Hindi
- causing damage or harm
- हानिकारक hānikārak, अपकारी apkārī
detrimental in Tamil
- ஊறு பயக்கத்தக்க, ஊறு விளையத்தக்க, கெடுதலான, குந்தமான, தீங்கு தரத்தக்க
detrimental in Urdu
- نقصان دہ, ضرر رساں
detrimental in Bengali
- causing damage or harm
- ক্ষতিকারক khotikarok, ক্ষতিকর khotikor
More languagesFewer languages
- detrimental in Malayalam
- കോട്ടം വരുത്തുന്ന, ഹാനികര, അപായകരം, മാരകഫലമുളവാക്കുന്ന
- detrimental in Kannada
- ಕೆಡಕು ಮಾಡುವ, ಹಾನಿಕರ, ಅಪಾಯಕರ, ಅಹಿತಕರ
- detrimental in Arabic
- ضَارّ مُضِرّ ḍārr
Examples of detrimental in a sentence
- The senator observed that the bill would be detrimental to his constituents.
- "Relationshopping" is detrimental to users' romantic relationship goals for two reasons.
- Roberson added, “and this screams to me it’s detrimental to the fish.”
Synonyms of detrimental
6 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- noisome
- prejudicial
- scathand
- scathel
- sullen
- venom
Antonyms
Forms of detrimental
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more detrimental |
| superlative | most detrimental |
| Noun | |
| plural | detrimentals |
Origin of detrimental
From Medieval Latin *dētrīmentālis, from Latin dētrīmentum (“harm”), from dēterō (“to rub off, wear”), from dē- (“down, away”) + terō (“to rub or grab”).
Words formed from detrimental
Questions about detrimental
- What does detrimental mean?
- Detrimental means causing damage or harm.
- What is detrimental in Hindi?
- Detrimental in Hindi is हानिकारक (hānikārak), अपकारी (apkārī). See Detrimental meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is detrimental?
- Detrimental can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce detrimental?
- Detrimental is pronounced /ˌdɛtɹɪˈmɛntəl/.
Words near detrimental in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: detrimental (page history and authors); detrimental (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detrimental (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detrimental (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); detrimental (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-detrimental.wav.
Cite this entry: “detrimental.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detrimental. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.