Meaning & use
harmless
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Not able to hurt, damage or cause trouble.
Grammar: Can follow a verb or come before a noun: the spider is harmless; a harmless prank.
Patterns
- harmless to someone
- harmless to something
The garden snake is harmless to people.
The chemical is harmless to pets in small amounts.
It was a harmless joke, and nobody was offended.
adjectivecomparable
Innocent in intention, with no desire to cause trouble.
Grammar: Usually used to describe a person or a plan.
Patterns
- a harmless old man
He seemed a harmless old man who liked feeding pigeons.
Her curiosity was harmless and she meant no offense.
adjectivecomparableinformal
Not likely to be important or interesting enough to matter, even slightly dull.
Grammar: Often used for mild, safe entertainment.
Patterns
- harmless fun
The movie was a harmless comedy to watch on a Sunday.
It's harmless gossip and does nobody any damage.
Word forms
| comparative | more harmless |
|---|---|
| superlative | most harmless |
Common combinations
- perfectly harmless
- The dog looks scary but is perfectly harmless.
- harmless fun
- They saw the prank as harmless fun.
- relatively harmless
- These pests are relatively harmless.
- completely harmless
- The medicine is completely harmless to adults.
- harmless to humans
- The spider is harmless to humans.
Synonyms and how they differ
- safe
- Safe describes protection from danger, while harmless says the thing itself cannot cause damage.
- innocuous
- Innocuous is more formal and suggests something unlikely to offend or hurt.
- benign
- Benign is often medical, such as a benign tumor, or suggests kindly intent.
- inoffensive
- Inoffensive means unlikely to upset anyone, which is narrower than harmless.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: harmless or harmful? harmless or charmless?
harmless vs harmful
Harmful means causing damage, so it is the opposite of harmless, though both contain the word harm.
harmless vs charmless
Charmless means lacking charm. It looks similar but is unrelated to safety.
Practice
Don't worry about the spider in the bathroom; it is completely ___ to people.
Choose one answer.
Harmless means unable to cause injury. Harmful says the reverse, and hurtful usually describes unkind words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “harmless”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.