harm
noun
physical injury or mental damage; hurt.
harm
1 American
[hahrm]
/ hɑrm /
noun
-
physical injury or mental damage; hurt.
to do him bodily harm.
- Antonyms:
- benefit
-
moral injury; evil; wrong.
verb (used with object)
-
harms,
present (3rd person singular)
-
harmed,
past participle, past
-
harming
present participle
HARM
2
American
[hahrm]
/ hɑrm /
noun
Military.
harm
British
/ hɑːm /
noun
-
physical or mental injury or damage
-
moral evil or wrongdoing
verb
harm
Idioms
Synonym Usage
See damage.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
harmsimple
-
harmssimple
-
have harmedperfect
-
has harmedperfect
-
am harmingprogressive
-
are harmingprogressive
-
is harmingprogressive
-
have been harmingperfect progressive
-
has been harmingperfect progressive
Past
-
harmedsimple
-
had harmedperfect
-
was harmingprogressive
-
were harmingprogressive
-
had been harmingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of harm1
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hearm; cognate with German Harm, Old Norse harmr
Origin of HARM2
H(igh-speed) A(nti) R(adiation) M(issile)
Explanation
Harm is a deliberate injury or damage to someone or something. A playground bully is a mean kid who causes harm to other kids. Harm is both a noun and a verb — when you inflict harm on your brother, you harm him. Physically hurting someone is only one way to harm them. If a classmate spreads a mean rumor about you, that also harms you. The Old English root word is hearm, which means "hurt" and "pain," but also "evil" and "insult."
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.
See Examples For:
"The fact that Levy was able to inflict such devastating harm after being freed by police and the courts is deeply concerning."
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
"The harm is happening now," Apple's lawyers say, and "every day that passes without an injunction allows OpenAI to embed their knowledge of Apple's stolen information into its hardware development efforts."
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Would you come into the office more regularly if you didn’t feel like you were contributing to a product that might cause harm?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
I don’t want to be liable for harm to your soul, and that’s why you’re supposed to leave work to tend to your soul, whatever is good for you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Yet if the scientists let their emotions get in the way of learning from the volcano, then the missed opportunity—the chance to prevent harm to someone else in the future—would only add to the tragedy.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
The traditional medical motto has now become a challenge: DO NO HARM.
From New York Times ● Aug. 24, 2010
It can't do you any HARM, you know,' he went on in hoarse whispered earnestness.
From The Phoenix and the Carpet by Nesbit, E. (Edith)
The first bellwether trial for social media harms on mental health concluded in March, when a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and Google to pay a 20-year-old woman $6 million.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
Judge Bryan Biedscheid said the social media giant is a "public nuisance" akin to air pollution and that it must put the money in a fund aimed at reducing future harms.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
And what was left, once memories of the crisis faded, were the harms of the choices we made to cope with a whole host of unknowns: the learning losses, socialization issues, and shuttered businesses.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
“If this merger is allowed to close ... the harms begin,” Weingarten said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Athena’s appearance, in point of fact, harms a good plot.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
A New Mexico judge on Thursday ordered Meta to pay more than half a billion dollars over the state's claims that the social media giant created a "public nuisance" and harmed children.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
You felt bad for anyone who got harmed.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
“We harmed young people in very real ways,” said David Barnes, a public health historian at the University of Pennsylvania.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026
A Florida teenager who sued Meta claiming that he was addicted to and harmed by his use of platforms, such as Instagram, has dropped his case.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Based on Chambliss’s best guess, it should have gone off around three or four in the morning, which would have prevented our congregation from meeting for church but would not have harmed anyone.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Torrez, the New Mexico attorney general, said in a statement Meta knew for years that its platforms were harming kids and now it’s paying for choosing “engagement and profit over their safety.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
I’m not saying you need to like your boss, but assigning her silence any kind of meaning is harming your sanity and happiness.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
Denys Shtilerman, head of Ukrainian defence firm Fire Point, said the strikes were partly aimed at harming Russia's economy and hoped it could trigger a financial crisis.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Pesticides applied to reduce the insects feeding on crops – is some what ironically – responsible for harming a group of animals responsible for their pollination.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
Besides this, one cannot honestly satisfy the nobles without harming others, but the common people can certainly be satisfied.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
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.
