Standard Lemma guide

hurtful

adj · 4 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɜːtfʊl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɜːtfəl/
  • General-American: /ˈhɜɹtfʊl/
  • General-American: /ˈhɜɹtfəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH ER1 T F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Tending to impair or damage; injurious; occasioning loss or injury.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

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

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Tending to hurt someone's feelings; insulting; lacerating.

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

harmful to living things

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • deleterious chemical additives

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deleterious, injurious

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

causing hurt

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • her hurtful unconsidered words

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From hurt + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: вреден (vreden) — tending to impair or damage
  • Finnish: vahingollinen — tending to impair or damage
  • Ancient Greek: βλαπτικός (blaptikós) — tending to impair or damage
  • Hindi: हानिकारक (hānikārak) — tending to impair or damage
  • Hindi: अपकारी (apkārī) — tending to impair or damage
  • Hindi: अहितकर (ahitkar) — tending to impair or damage
  • Hungarian: ártalmas — tending to impair or damage
  • Hungarian: káros — tending to impair or damage
  • Latin: noxius — tending to impair or damage
  • Māori: whakamamae — tending to impair or damage
  • Plautdietsch: schätlich — tending to impair or damage
  • Romanian: dăunător — tending to impair or damage
  • Russian: вредный (vrednyj) — tending to impair or damage
  • Russian: пагубный (pagubnyj) — tending to impair or damage
  • Sanskrit: हिंस्र (hiṃsra) — tending to impair or damage
  • Spanish: nocivo — tending to impair or damage
  • Spanish: hiriente — tending to impair or damage
  • Spanish: heridor — tending to impair or damage
  • Bulgarian: обиден (obiden) — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Finnish: loukkaava — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Finnish: ilkeä — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Finnish: pahantahtoinen — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Finnish: pahansuopa — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • French: blessant — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Hungarian: bántó — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Hungarian: sértő — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Māori: hākiki — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Norman: bliessant — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Polish: krzywdzący — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Romanian: jignitor — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Russian: обидный (obidnyj) — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Spanish: hiriente — tending to hurt someone's feelings
  • Spanish: heridor — tending to hurt someone's feelings