harmfulness
Quality of injuring
Harmfulness is the quality of causing damage, injury, or adverse effects.
The word appears in contexts where potential for harm needs to be assessed or compared: Studies evaluated the harmfulness of various chemicals, The harmfulness of misinformation spreads faster than corrections.
More formal than simply saying something is harmful.
Physical or psychological harm
- damageHarm or impairment
- adverseHarmful or opposed
- destructiveCausing severe harm
- negativeOpposite of affirmative
disadvantage · impairment · deleterious · debilitating · prejudicial · pernicious · baleful · noxious
Capable of causing death
- venomousProducing injected toxins
- lethalCausing or capable of death
- noxiousHarmful, especially when inhaled
- carcinogenicCauses cancer
mutagenic · toxins · contaminants · hazardous · chemicals · pathogenic · virulent · cytotoxic
Serious threat of harm
- menaceSource of potential harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- hazardSource of potential harm
- jeopardyRisk of harm
unsafe · precarious · vulnerability · imminent · fatal · lethal · deadly · catastrophic
Environmental harm from waste
- smogSunlight-activated urban pollution
- emissionsSubstances released into air
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
- particulatesMinute airborne solids or droplets
acid rain · ozone depletion · deforestation · eutrophication · global warming · industrial waste · oil spill · pesticides
injury
Physical or psychological harm
- damageHarm or impairment
- adverseHarmful or opposed
- destructiveCausing severe harm
negative · disadvantage · impairment · deleterious · debilitating · prejudicial · pernicious · baleful · noxious · ruinous
poisonous
Capable of causing death
- venomousProducing injected toxins
- lethalCausing or capable of death
- noxiousHarmful, especially when inhaled
carcinogenic · mutagenic · toxins · contaminants · hazardous · chemicals · pathogenic · virulent · cytotoxic · neurotoxin
peril
Serious threat of harm
jeopardy · unsafe · precarious · vulnerability · imminent · fatal · lethal · deadly · catastrophic · calamity
pollution
Environmental harm from waste
- smogSunlight-activated urban pollution
- emissionsSubstances released into air
- contaminationIntroduction of impurities
particulates · acid rain · ozone depletion · deforestation · eutrophication · global warming · industrial waste · oil spill · pesticides · air quality
- dangersdanger, peril, hazard, risk, menace
- destructiondestruction, destroying, demolishing, devastation, ruination
- malicemalice, ill will, spite, malevolence, malignity
harmfulnessharmlessness
Inability to cause damage
innocuousness · benignity · helpfulness · safety · wholesomeness
harm, harmful, harmless, harmed, harming, harmlessly, harmfully, harmlessness, harmer