deleterious

[ del-i-teer-ee-uhs ]

adjective

1. injurious to health:

   deleterious gases.

2. harmful; injurious:

   deleterious influences.

   Synonyms: noxious, destructive, hurtful, pernicious

   Antonyms: beneficial

deleterious

/ ˌdɛlɪˈtɪərɪəs /

adjective

1. harmful; injurious; hurtful

Derived Forms

• ˌdeleˈteriously, adverb
• ˌdeleˈteriousness, noun

Other Words From

• dele·teri·ous·ly adverb
• dele·teri·ous·ness noun
• nondel·e·teri·ous adjective
• nondel·e·teri·ous·ly adverb
• nondel·e·teri·ous·ness noun
• undel·e·teri·ous adjective
• undel·e·teri·ous·ly adverb
• undel·e·teri·ous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of deleterious¹

1635–45; < Greek dēlētḗrios destructive, adj. derivative of dēlētḗr destroyer, equivalent to dēlē- variant stem of dēleîsthai to hurt, injure + -tēr agent suffix + -ios adj. suffix; -ious

Word History and Origins

Origin of deleterious¹

C17: from New Latin dēlētērius, from Greek dēlētērios injurious, destructive, from dēleisthai to hurt

Example Sentences

Still, negative association in the card environment had a deleterious effect, said Manatt.

From Digiday

One 2018 analysis suggests that around 1 out of every 100 people has deleterious mosaic genetic difference that affects “sizable brain regions.”

From MIT Technology Review

“How the Word Is Passed” recounts Smith’s visits to historical sites in America and West Africa to interrogate how slavery and its deleterious aftermath are taught.

From Washington Post

“Allowing this professor to return to campus would have a serious, deleterious effect on other students, faculty, and staff, and his mere presence would make many members of the campus community feel unsafe,” the petition reads.

From Voice of San Diego

And, as he explains to New York Times contributor Kara Swisher on her podcast Sway, this noise can have a number of deleterious consequences, including unfair systems and outcomes.

From Ozy

But it is indeed in Uttar Pradesh that we see the deepest sympathy for this  deleterious machismo.

From The Daily Beast

Drugs are becoming more powerful with prescription painkillers used to enhance effect and prolong a deleterious pleasure.

From The Daily Beast

But consider: inhaling one leaf has had the largest deleterious impact on human health of any single product in human history.

From The Daily Beast

But the truth is that they have real and deleterious effects on conservative politics.

From The Daily Beast

Perhaps the noise raised by those who oppose labels will prove to be more deleterious than the labels themselves.

From The Daily Beast

Opium-smoking is a vice not only deleterious in itself, but one indulged in merely to satisfy a morbid craving.

From Project Gutenberg

It is evident that some cases are completely cured and that no deleterious influence remains.

From Project Gutenberg

Freedom from the deleterious action or habit-forming tendencies of the opiates.

From Project Gutenberg

The easier an act is, the more readily, if it is deleterious, will popular sentiment build a protective wall around it.

From Project Gutenberg

Tobacco smoke is more deleterious than ale, teetotaller; bile more potent than brandy.

From Project Gutenberg