damaging

[dam-i-jing]

adjective

1. causing or capable of causing damages; harmful; injurious.

Other Word Forms

• damagingly adverb
• nondamaging adjective
• nondamagingly adverb
• undamaging adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of damaging¹

First recorded in 1850–55; damage + -ing ²

Example Sentences

E-cigarettes do not burn tobacco and do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most damaging elements in tobacco smoke.

From BBC

Whatever the merits of having someone different in charge – and many see Robert Jenrick waiting in the wings – it risks exposing the Tories once again to the most damaging of political forces: ridicule.

From BBC

Met Éireann has warned that the storm will bring "severe and damaging gusts".

From BBC

But President Volodymyr Zelensky has said damaging Russia's oil industry is a key means of forcing Russia to the negotiating table.

From BBC

Prior to that, it accused the Israeli military of "intentionally damaging ship communications, in an attempt to block distress signals and stop the livestream of their illegal boat boarding".

From BBC

Related Words

• detrimental 
• harmful 
• injurious 
• prejudicial 
• ruinous