Synonyms of harmful
16 similar words · 10 opposite words
Another word for harmful is damaging. Other synonyms of harmful are detrimental, hurtful, mischievous, noxious and deleterious. The opposite of harmful is harmless.
Synonyms and similar words for harmful
adjectiveCausing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.
- injuriousCausing physical harm or injury; harmful, hurtful.
- damagingCausing damage; harmful, injurious.
- deleteriousHarmful, often in a subtle or unexpected way.
- detrimentalCausing damage or harm.
- hurtfulTending to impair or damage; injurious; occasioning loss or injury.
- inimicalHarmful in effect.
- mischievousCausing mischief; injurious.
- nocentCausing injury; harmful.
- nocuousLikely to cause harm or damage.
- noxiousHarmful; injurious.
- noisomeHurtful or noxious to health; unwholesome, insalubrious.
- prejudicialCausing harm or injury; detrimental, harmful or injurious.
- scathandHarmful; scathing.
- scathel
- sullen obsoleteMischievous; malignant; unpropitious.
- venom obsoletePoisonous, poisoned; (figuratively) pernicious.
Opposite of harmful
adjectiveMore antonyms
- beneficial
- harmlessIncapable of causing harm or danger; safe.
- helpfulFurnishing help; gives aid; useful.
- valuable
- innocentNot harmful; innocuous; harmless; benign.
- innocuousHarmless; producing no ill effect.
- innoxiousHaving no harmful effect; harmless, innocuous.
- inoffensive
- undamagingNot causing damage.
- unharmfulNot harmful.
Meaning of harmful
- adjective Causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.
harmful in other languages
Questions about synonyms of harmful
- What is another word for harmful?
- Harmful has 16 synonyms on Word.ws, such as damaging, detrimental, hurtful, mischievous, noxious, deleterious, injurious and prejudicial.
- What is the opposite of harmful?
- The opposite of harmful is harmless. Other antonyms of harmful are innocuous, innocent and helpful.
- What does harmful mean?
- Harmful means causing or likely to cause harm or damage; injurious.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: harmful (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Synonyms of harmful.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/harmful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.