harmless
Americanadjective
-
without the power or desire to do harm; innocuous.
He looks mean but he's harmless; a harmless Halloween prank.
- Synonyms:
- benign, unobjectionable, innocent, mild, inoffensive
-
without injury; unhurt; unharmed.
idioms
adjective
-
not causing any physical or mental damage or injury
-
unlikely to annoy or worry people
a harmless sort of man
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of harmless
Explanation
Things that can't hurt you are harmless. It might be hard for you to believe her when your sister tells you that her enormous pet snake is completely harmless. If your friend is scared of dogs, you can reassure her by saying, "Sure, he's 150 pounds and has a loud bark, but Fido is harmless!" Things that are safe or benign don't cause harm, and are therefore harmless, like your dad's harmless teasing or a compostable paper plate that's harmless to the environment. The word harmless originally meant "uninjured," or "not harmed," and came to mean "undamaged" by the end of the 1300s.
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.
Instead, they learned only two separate things beforehand: that the blue flower provided a reward and that the ball was a movable, harmless object.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
In that case, taking a small amount of your money and concentrating it in a small number of stocks is harmless fun, and you might even end up owning the next Nvidia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
The images that took her voice were, by any platform's definition, harmless.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
Wildlife experts say human-bear conflicts are the result of people moving deeper into the wildlands, and that bears that wander into neighborhoods are often harmless and easy to frighten.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
And I decide that discussing this stuff with Uncle Phil is probably harmless.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
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.
