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.

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)
• 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