harmless

[ hahrm-lis ]

/ ˈhɑrm lɪs /

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR harmless ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

without the power or desire to do harm; innocuous: He looks mean but he's harmless; a harmless Halloween prank.

without injury; unhurt; unharmed.

Nearby words

harm's way, harmattan, harmensen, jacob, harmful, harmfully, harmless, harmlessly, harmolodics, harmonia, harmonic, harmonic analysis

Idioms

hold harmless, Law. to relieve from responsibility or liability for any damage or loss.Also save harmless.

Origin of harmless

1250–1300; Middle English. See harm, -less

SYNONYMS FOR harmless

1 inoffensive, mild, innocent, unobjectionable, benign.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR harmless ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsharm·less·ly, adverbharm·less·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for harmless

Knowing the fellow to be both poor and harmless, I quietly gave him one.
A Million Ways to Die in Prison|Daniel Genis|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Of the over 100 strains, the majority are harmless and a healthy immune system will fight it without a person ever realizing it.
The Silent Shame of HPV|Emily Shire|August 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A harmless woman is being harassed online by a nerdy subculture.
Fanboys, White Knights, and the Hairball of Online Misogyny|Tauriq Moosa|August 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Are you not defeating the cause by demonstrating violence in your response to a nonviolent, harmless kid?
How Not to Reply to a Racist Tweet|Tauriq Moosa|August 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST

How could you tell the real, dangerous zombies apart from the harmless fakers?
The Case Against Cards Against Humanity: Is Max Temkin a Horrible Person? (Does It Matter?)|Arthur Chu|July 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Everybody looked upon him as a harmless old man, a trifle eccentric, and a great walker.
Spies of the Kaiser|William Le Queux
But one enormous indirect benefit we will gain if we can make Germany a peaceful and harmless State.
The German War|Arthur Conan Doyle
“Just look into their mouths, and you will soon see that they are not so harmless as you suppose,” he answered.
On the Banks of the Amazon|W.H.G. Kingston
To prove that tobacco, rightly used, is harmless, is to prove that it does pay to smoke.
Tobacco and Alcohol|John Fiske
If they fall into the hands of children they are also harmless as far as starting a fire is concerned.
Woodcraft|E. H. (Elmer Harry) Kreps

British Dictionary definitions for harmless

harmless

/ (ˈhɑːmlɪs) /

adjective

not causing any physical or mental damage or injury

unlikely to annoy or worry peoplea harmless sort of man

Derived Formsharmlessly, adverbharmlessness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for harmless

harmless

adj.

c.1300, "uninjured," from harm (n.) + -less. Meaning "undamaged" is from late 14c. Related: Harmlessly; harmlessness.

harmless

adjective

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Idioms

Origin of harmless

Examples from the Web for harmless

British Dictionary definitions for harmless

harmless

adjective

Word Origin and History for harmless

harmless