harmless

[ hahrm-lis ]

adjective

1. without the power or desire to do harm; innocuous:

   He looks mean but he's harmless; a harmless Halloween prank.

   Synonyms: unobjectionable, benign, innocent, mild, inoffensive

2. without injury; unhurt; unharmed.

harmless

/ ˈhɑːmlɪs /

adjective

1. not causing any physical or mental damage or injury
2. unlikely to annoy or worry people

   a harmless sort of man

Derived Forms

• ˈharmlessness, noun
• ˈharmlessly, adverb

Other Words From

• harm·less·ly adverb
• harm·less·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of harmless¹

1250–1300; Middle English; harm, -less

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. hold harmless, Law. to relieve from responsibility or liability for any damage or loss. Also save harmless.

Example Sentences

Chloe Rist, Mason's sister, told the court how their family had been overprotective of him "because he was so vulnerable and harmless".

From BBC

When attempting to detect skin cancers, for example, mistakes are often made by the human examiners who confuse very similar-looking but harmless conditions with potentially fatal melanomas.

From Science Daily

Others take it further, performing wacky, harmless stunts that will attract attention - and possible judgement from strangers - in public.

From BBC

An orange-tinted despot seemed relatively harmless compared to the ones in their ancestral lands, so they didn’t view Trump as much of a threat.

From Los Angeles Times

Owner Philip Robinson said: "It can seem harmless, but we have to set boundaries with incidents like this."

From BBC

Related Words

• gentle
• innocent
• innocuous
• inoffensive
• naive
• nontoxic
• painless
• powerless
• simple