Standard Lemma guide

detrimental

adj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌdɛtɹɪˈmɛntəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: D EH2 T R AH0 M EH1 N T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: D EH2 T R AH0 M EH1 N AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Causing damage or harm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Smoking tobacco can be detrimental to your health.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: harmful, damaging, injurious, deleterious, detrimental, hurtful, inimical, mischievous, nocent, nocuous, noxious, noisome, prejudicial, scathand, scathel, sullen, venom

Antonyms: beneficial

2

noun

Meaning 2

Anything harmful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

(sometimes followed by `to') causing harm or injury

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • damaging to career and reputation
  • the reporter's coverage resulted in prejudicial publicity for the defendant

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: damaging, prejudicial, prejudicious

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Medieval Latin *dētrīmentālis, from Latin dētrīmentum (“harm”), from dēterō (“to rub off, wear”), from dē- (“down, away”) + terō (“to rub or grab”).

Across languages

Translations

59 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: ضَارّ مُضِرّ (ḍārr) — causing damage or harm
  • Armenian: վնասակար (vnasakar) — causing damage or harm
  • Armenian: վնասաբեր (vnasaber) — causing damage or harm
  • Azerbaijani: ziyanverici — causing damage or harm
  • Azerbaijani: zərərverici — causing damage or harm
  • Azerbaijani: zərərli — causing damage or harm
  • Azerbaijani: ziyanlı — causing damage or harm
  • Azerbaijani: ziyankar — causing damage or harm
  • Bengali: ক্ষতিকারক (khotikarok) — causing damage or harm
  • Bengali: ক্ষতিকর (khotikor) — causing damage or harm
  • Bulgarian: вреден (vreden) — causing damage or harm
  • Bulgarian: увреждащ (uvreždašt) — causing damage or harm
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有害的 (yǒuhài de) — causing damage or harm
  • Danish: skadelig — causing damage or harm
  • Dutch: schadelijk — causing damage or harm
  • Dutch: nadelig — causing damage or harm
  • Finnish: vahingollinen — causing damage or harm
  • Finnish: haitallinen — causing damage or harm
  • French: nuisible — causing damage or harm
  • French: néfaste — causing damage or harm
  • Georgian: საზიანო (saziano) — causing damage or harm
  • German: schädlich — causing damage or harm
  • German: abträglich — causing damage or harm
  • Greek: επιβλαβής (epivlavís) — causing damage or harm
  • Hebrew: מזיק (mazík) — causing damage or harm
  • Hindi: हानिकारक (hānikārak) — causing damage or harm
  • Hindi: अपकारी (apkārī) — causing damage or harm
  • Hungarian: ártalmas — causing damage or harm
  • Hungarian: káros — causing damage or harm
  • Hungarian: kártékony — causing damage or harm
  • Ingrian: vrednoi — causing damage or harm
  • Irish: aimhleasach — causing damage or harm
  • Irish: díobhálach — causing damage or harm
  • Irish: dochrach — causing damage or harm
  • Italian: dannoso — causing damage or harm
  • Italian: lesivo — causing damage or harm
  • Japanese: 害する (gai suru) — causing damage or harm
  • Japanese: 損なう (sokonau) — causing damage or harm
  • Japanese: 有害な (yūgai na) — causing damage or harm
  • Korean: 해로운 (haeroun) — causing damage or harm
  • Lithuanian: nuostolingas — causing damage or harm
  • Māori: whakawhara — causing damage or harm
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skadelig — causing damage or harm
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: skadeleg — causing damage or harm
  • Polish: szkodliwy — causing damage or harm
  • Portuguese: danoso — causing damage or harm
  • Portuguese: prejudicial — causing damage or harm
  • Romanian: dăunător — causing damage or harm
  • Romanian: vătămător — causing damage or harm
  • Russian: вре́дный (vrédnyj) — causing damage or harm
  • Russian: вредоно́сный (vredonósnyj) — causing damage or harm
  • Spanish: dañino — causing damage or harm
  • Spanish: perjudicial — causing damage or harm
  • Spanish: detrimental — causing damage or harm
  • Spanish: desventajoso — causing damage or harm
  • Swedish: skadlig — causing damage or harm
  • Turkish: zararlı — causing damage or harm
  • Ukrainian: шкідли́вий (škidlývyj) — causing damage or harm
  • Polish: szkodnik — anything harmful
Real reading context

detrimental in complete knowledge articles