detrimental
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
- detrimentality noun
- detrimentally adverb
- detrimentalness noun
- nondetrimental adjective
- nondetrimentally adverb
- predetrimental adjective
- undetrimental adjective
- undetrimentally adverb
Etymology
Origin of detrimental
Explanation
Detrimental is a formal way of saying "harmful." Anything detrimental hurts, hinders, or puts a damper on something. Detrimental things do damage. Have you ever heard "Smoking may be detrimental to your health" and wondered what it meant? It means that smoking is bad for your health: it's going to harm you in a bunch of ways. Detrimental is a more official, formal way of talking about things that do harm. A dog who likes digging holes can be detrimental to a garden. If you're writing a paper and want to pick an alternative to harmful that sounds more formal, detrimental is a great choice.
Vocabulary lists containing detrimental
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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This Week in Words: January 27 - February 2, 2018
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Orlando Ward, director of community affairs for VOA, said he wasn’t sure why the organization’s numbers were so high, but that helping people change detrimental behaviors “doesn’t happen overnight.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
A brief statement from the Bulls said the 24-year-old had been waived by the team for "conduct detrimental to the team."
From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026
“This, of course, could be detrimental, especially if applied in the wrong context.”
From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026
“If you believe that something is detrimental to the economic well-being of New York City, you need to be vocal about it,” Fulop, 49 years old, said in an interview.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
This may seem surprising—not because spanking it self is necessarily detrimental but because, conventionally speaking, spanking is considered an unenlightened practice.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
