detrimental

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin *dētrīmentālis, from Latin dētrīmentum (“harm”), from dēterō (“to rub off, wear”), from dē- (“down, away”) + terō (“to rub or grab”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdɛtɹɪˈmɛntəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

detrimental (comparative more detrimental, superlative most detrimental)

1. Causing damage or harm.

   Synonyms: harmful, damaging, injurious; see also Thesaurus:harmful

   Antonym: beneficial

   Smoking tobacco can be detrimental to your health.

   • 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, pages 142–143:

     "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."

   • 2023 July 26, 'Industry Insider', “Ticket offices RIP?”, in RAIL, number 988, page 68:

     Decisions made at the DfT inevitably reflect a London-centric experience, with a comparison being made with the closure of ticket offices throughout the London Underground network. This is not judged to have been detrimental, but there is a simple zonal fares system that is hardly comparable with the range of ticket types used on the national rail network.

Derived terms

• detrimentally
• detrimentalness
• nondetrimental
• undetrimental

 

Related terms

• detriment

Translations

causing damage or harm

Arabic: ضَارّ (ḍārr) مُضِرّ (muḍirr) Armenian: վնասակար (hy) (vnasakar), վնասաբեր (hy) (vnasaber) Azerbaijani: ziyanverici (az), zərərverici (az), zərərli, ziyanlı, ziyankar Bengali: ক্ষতিকারক (bn) (khotikarok), ক্ষতিকর (bn) (khotikor) Bulgarian: вреден (bg) (vreden), увреждащ (bg) (uvreždašt) Chinese: Mandarin: 有害的 (zh) (yǒuhài de) Danish: skadelig (da) Dutch: schadelijk (nl), nadelig (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: vahingollinen (fi), haitallinen (fi) French: nuisible (fr), néfaste (fr) Georgian: საზიანო (saziano) German: schädlich (de), abträglich (de) Greek: επιβλαβής (el) (epivlavís) Hebrew: מזיק (mazík) Hungarian: ártalmas (hu), káros (hu), kártékony (hu) Ingrian: vrednoi Irish: aimhleasach, díobhálach, dochrach Italian: dannoso (it), lesivo (it) Japanese: 害する (ja) (がいする, gai suru), 損なう (ja) (そこなう, sokonau), 有害な (ja) (ゆうがいな, yūgai na) Korean: 해로운 (ko) (haeroun) Lithuanian: nuostolingas Maori: whakawhara Norwegian: Bokmål: skadelig (no) Nynorsk: skadeleg Portuguese: danoso (pt), prejudicial (pt) Romanian: dăunător (ro), vătămător (ro) Russian: вре́дный (ru) (vrédnyj), вредоно́сный (ru) (vredonósnyj) Spanish: dañino (es), perjudicial (es), detrimental (es) Swedish: skadlig (sv) Turkish: zararlı (tr) Ukrainian: шкідли́вий (škidlývyj)

Noun

detrimental (plural detrimentals)

1. Anything harmful.
   • 2012, Dr. Frank Springob, Bugs in My Brain, Poison on My Plate, page 137:

     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.

   • 2022, M. E. Braddon, Beyond These Voices:

     I'm afraid it may be the detrimentals, the poets, and æsthetes, and impressionist painters, who will rave about her.

Further reading

• “detrimental”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “detrimental”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /detɾimenˈtal/ [d̪e.t̪ɾi.mẽn̪ˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: de‧tri‧men‧tal

Adjective

detrimental m or f (masculine and feminine plural detrimentales)

1. detrimental

   Synonym: perjudicial