1
general::
harmful
causing physical harm – used especially about things that cause harm to your health, the environment etc:
• Smoking is harmful to your health. • drugs with harmful side-effects
be bad for somebody/something
to have a harmful effect on someone or something. This phrase is very commonly used in everyday English when saying that something is harmful:
• Everyone knows that too much alcohol is bad for you.
damaging
used about things that cause permanent physical harm, or that have a bad effect in other ways, for example on people’s opinion of someone:
• Acid rain has a damaging effect on trees and the soil. • The allegations were very damaging to his career. • Constant criticism is damaging to a child’s self-esteem.
detrimental
formal causing harm or having a bad effect on something:
• Employers are worried that the new laws will have a detrimental effect on their business. • chemicals that are detrimental to the environment • policies that have been detrimental to the interests of old people
negative
a negative effect is one that is bad and causes problems:
• The car tax had a negative effect on car sales. • the negative impact of the recession in the US
hazardous
hazardous substances are likely to be dangerous to people’s health and safety:
• Hazardous waste needs to be disposed of safely. • hazardous chemicals
toxic
toxic substances, smoke etc are poisonous:
• toxic waste • toxic fumes • Toxic chemicals spilled into the river.
pernicious
formal used about something that has a gradual bad effect which is not easy to notice, especially on people’s morals, or on their health:
• the pernicious effects of violent video games • the pernicious effect of secondhand smoke
Longman-Thesaurus
2
general::
adj. VERBS be | become | consider sth She actually considered fresh air harmful. ADV. extremely, particularly, positively, very These products are often positively harmful. | quite | possibly, potentially A lot of these chemicals are potentially very harmful. | allegedly | (not) necessarily Not all virus infections are necessarily harmful to vines. | intrinsically | environmentally, socially These pesticides are environmentally harmful. PREP. to pesticides that are harmful to the environment
Oxford Collocations Dictionary