harm

harm — noun

1. a state in which a person's body, feelings, money, or possessions are injured or

1.nounB1
Definition

a state in which a person's body, feelings, money, or possessions are injured or damaged, typically because of an accident or deliberate action

Example

Takeshi suffered serious harm in the car accident and needed months to recover.

collocation: suffer harm

The storm did a lot of harm to the rice fields along the coast.

collocation: do harm to

Common collocations
  • great harm
  • serious harm
  • lasting harm
  • physical harm
  • emotional harm
  • irreparable harm
  • do harm
  • cause harm
  • suffer harm
  • come to harm
Synonyms
  • damage

    focuses on physical destruction or loss, more concrete than harm

  • injury

    specifically refers to physical hurt to a body, less abstract than harm

  • hurt

    more informal and often emotional rather than physical

Antonyms
  • benefit

    a positive effect or advantage, opposite of negative impact

  • good

    something that helps or improves a situation

Usage Note

Harm is an uncountable noun and is never used in the plural form. It commonly appears with verbs such as cause, do, suffer, and come to.

Common Mistakes

The medicine caused many harms.
The medicine caused a lot of harm.
Harm is uncountable so it cannot take a plural -s ending.
Idioms

do more harm than good

idiom

to have a worse effect than a helpful one, making the situation worse rather than better

Taking painkillers every day can do more harm than good for your stomach.

no harm done

idiom

used to tell someone that their mistake did not cause any serious damage or injury, so they should not worry

Owen spilled water on the table, but his friend smiled and said, 'No harm done.'

out of harm's way

idiom

in a safe place where someone or something cannot be hurt, damaged, or cause damage to others

During the storm, we moved all the garden furniture out of harm's way.

there is no harm in (doing something)

idiom

used to say that an action is sensible, worth trying, and will not cause any problems

There is no harm in asking your teacher for extra help if you do not understand.

out of harm’s way

idiom

This phrase means being in a safe place where no injury or damage can occur.

Diego moved the vase to a high shelf out of harm's way.

Are the children playing out of harm's way in the backyard?

harm — verb

Word family

  • harmful
    adjectiveB1
  • harmless
    adjectiveB1
  • harmfully
    adverbB2
  • harmlessly
    adverbB2
  • unharmed
    adjectiveB1
  • harmer
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Harm is the broadest of these four words, covering physical, emotional, financial, and reputational negative effects. Damage focuses on physical destruction or loss of value — a car can be damaged in a crash, but one's feelings are not typically 'damaged.' Injury is almost exclusively physical or legal, referring to wounds on a body or violations of rights. Hurt, as a noun, is more informal and often emotional ('a feeling of deep hurt') rather than physical. In everyday conversation, harm and damage are the most interchangeable for objects ('the storm did a lot of harm/damage'), but for living beings, harm is preferred ('the accident caused serious harm to the child').

harmdamageinjuryhurt

Common collocations

Nouns

  • health
  • environment
  • reputation
  • relationship
  • children
  • wildlife

Adverbs

  • seriously
  • physically
  • emotionally
  • permanently
  • environmentally

Phrases

  • do harm
  • cause harm
  • suffer harm
  • come to harm

Prepositions

  • to
  • from

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Harm comes from the Old English word hearm, meaning 'hurt, evil, or grief.' It can be traced further back to the Proto-Germanic root *harmaz, which carried a sense of 'pain' or 'insult.' Germanic languages such as Old Saxon (harm) and Old Norse (harmr, meaning 'grief' or 'sorrow') had closely related forms, suggesting the word has been tied to the idea of emotional as well as physical suffering for well over a thousand years.