harm

See also: Harm

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English harm, herm, from Old English hearm, from Proto-West Germanic *harm, from Proto-Germanic *harmaz (“harm; shame; pain”). Cognate with Dutch harm (“harm”), German Harm (“harm”), Danish harme (“indignation, resentment”), Icelandic harmur (“sorrow, grief”), Swedish harm (“anger, indignation, harm”).

Pronunciation

Noun

harm (countable and uncountable, plural harms)

  1. Physical injury; hurt; damage.
    No harm came to my possessions.
    You can do a lot of harm to someone if you kick them in the teeth.
  2. Emotional or figurative hurt.
    Although not physically injured in the car accident, she received some psychological harm.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.
  3. Detriment; misfortune.
    I wish him no harm.
  4. That which causes injury, damage, or loss.

Usage notes

Collocations

Adjectives often applied to "harm": bodily, physical, environmental, emotional, financial, serious, irreparable, potential, long-term, short-term, permanent, redressable, lasting, material, substantial.

Collocations

More collocations

  • do harm
  • do great harm
  • come to harm
  • cause harm
  • inflict harm on someone

Translations

Verb

harm (third-person singular simple present harms, present participle harming, simple past and past participle harmed)

  1. To damage, hurt, or injure something, usually an inanimate object.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:harm
    • 2020 December 16, Yan Ming, “Awakening Moral Conscience”, in Minghui‎[1], archived from the original on 17 April 2023:
      Will justice and conscience of society not be harmed if people avoid the truth?

Usage notes

The verb harm is mostly used to describe metaphorical or inanimate victims. Rarely would one use a sentence such as  He made me angry so I harmed him. when a more explicit action such as  I hit him or even  I hurt him will do.

Collocations

with nouns

  • harm someone's chances
  • harm someone's image
  • harm someone's health
  • harm someone's career
  • harm someone's prospects
  • harm someone's reputation
  • harm someone's team
  • harm the ozone layer
  • harm the economy
  • harm the club
  • harm the nation

with adverbs

  • critically harm
  • deliberately harm
  • physically harm

Translations

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb harm
Expressions derived from the noun or verb harm

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

From Old Danish harm, from Old Norse harmr, from Proto-Germanic *harmaz.

Noun

harm c (singular definite harmen, not used in plural form)

  1. (obsolete) indignation
  2. (obsolete) harm

Declension

Declension of harm
common
gender 		singular
indefinite definite
nominative harm harmen
genitive harms harmens

Synonyms

Adjective

harm (neuter harm, plural and definite singular attributive harme)

  1. angry, bitter

Inflection

Inflection of harm
positive comparative superlative
indefinite common singular harm — —2
indefinite neuter singular harmt — —2
plural harme — —2
definite attributive1 harme — —

1 When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2 The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

References

Icelandic

Noun

harm

  1. indefinite accusative singular of harmur

Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhaɾˠəmˠ/

Noun

harm

  1. h-prothesized form of arm

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English hearm, from Proto-West Germanic *harm.

Noun

harm (plural harms)

  1. harm, injury, ruination

Descendants

  • English: harm
  • Scots: herm, hairm
  • Yola: harrm

References

Old Norse

Noun

harm

  1. accusative singular of harmr

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *harmaz.

Noun

harm m

  1. harm

Descendants

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish harmber, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *harmaz. Cognate with English harm.

Noun

harm c

  1. angry indignation (at something considered unjust)
  2. (archaic) (physical or emotional) harm

Declension

Declension of harm
nominative genitive
singular indefinite harm harms
definite harmen harmens
plural indefinite — —
definite — —

References

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