Word.ws English Dictionary

harm a fly

harm a fly is the alternative form of hurt a fly.

Meaning of hurt a fly

Verb

hurt a fly (third-person singular simple present hurts a fly, present participle hurting a fly, simple past and past participle hurt a fly)

  1. (idiomatic) To hurt or damage something even a little.
    • Talking of being eaten by dogs, there's a dachshund at Brinkley who when you first meet him will give you the impression that he plans to convert you into a light snack between his regular meals. Pay no attention. It's all eyewash. […] He wouldn't hurt a fly, but he has to put up a front because...1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Jeeves in the Offing
    Synonyms:
    harm a fly

Forms of harm a fly

third-person singular presentharms a fly
present participleharming a fly
past participleharmed a fly
pastharmed a fly

Questions about harm a fly

What is harm a fly the alternative form of?
Harm a fly is the alternative form of hurt a fly.

Words near harm a fly in the dictionary

  1. Harlowe
  2. Harlowton
  3. harls
  4. Harlyn
  5. harm
  6. harm a fly
  7. harm a hair on someone's head
  8. harm principle
  9. harm reduction
  10. harm's way
  11. harmability

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: harm a fly (page history and authors); hurt a fly (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.

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Cite this entry: “harm a fly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/harm_a_fly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.