English dictionary

harmful Meaning & Definition

Q: What are the comparative and superlative forms of harmful?

The comparative form is harmfuller and the superlative form is harmfullest.

ˈhärm-fəl

What Does Harmful Mean?

Harmful is an adjective that means of a kind likely to be damaging.

Harmful in Brief

Part of speech	adjective
Pronunciation	/ˈhärm-fəl/
Syllables	2
Synonyms	insidious, pernicious and malign
Antonyms	innocuous, advantageous and harmless
Comparative / superlative	harmfuller, harmfullest
Adverb	harmfully

Harmful Definition (Adjective)

of a kind likely to be damaging : injurious
harmful chemicals

Harmful in a Sentence

Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight.

Smoking is harmful to the lungs.

Burning fossil fuels is harmful to the environment.

harmful chemicals

DDT has been proven to be extremely harmful to the environment

Word Forms & Grammar

harm·ful·ly adverb

harm·ful·ness noun

harmful

harmfully

harmfulness

harmfulnesses

harmful (comparative harmfuller or more harmful, superlative harmfullest or most harmful)

Words That Rhyme With Harmful

charmful

Origin of Harmful

Origin 1: From Middle English harmful, from Old English *hearmful (suggested by hearmfullīċ (“harmful; hurtful”)), equivalent to harm +‎ -ful.

Origin 2: Cognate with German harmvoll, Danish harmfuld, Swedish harmfull.

First Known Use

14th century

Pronouncing Harmful

You say harmful as /ˈhärm-fəl/. It has 2 syllables, with the main stress on the first syllable (härm).

Quick Answers About Harmful

What part of speech is harmful?

Harmful is an adjective.

What is another word for harmful?

Close synonyms of harmful are insidious, pernicious and malign. See the full list of harmful synonyms and antonyms.

What is the opposite of harmful?

Antonyms of harmful include innocuous, advantageous, harmless and anodyne.

What are the comparative and superlative forms of harmful?

The comparative form is harmfuller and the superlative form is harmfullest.