harmless

CEFRC1

/ˈhɑːmləs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Not able or likely to cause damage or injury.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Not intended to harm; inoffensive.

Examples

  • Liberty consists of being able to make everything as harmless as possible.

  • The sound was annoying but harmless to the human body.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Incapable of causing harm or danger; safe.

More examples

In context

  • There's no need to be frightened of the dog; he is quite harmless.

  • His humor can be annoying but is harmless.

  • This snake looks nearly the same as its poisonous cousin but is harmless.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The small spider was blank and did not bite anyone.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English harmles, from Old English *hearmlēas, from Proto-Germanic *harmalausaz (“without harm; harmless”), equivalent to harm + -less. Cognate with German harmlos (“harmless”), Danish harmløs (“harlmess”), Swedish harmlös (“harmless”).