HARMLESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does harmless mean? 

• HARMLESS (adjective)
  The adjective HARMLESS has 1 sense:

1. not causing or capable of causing harm

  Familiarity information: HARMLESS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HARMLESS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not causing or capable of causing harm

Context example:

rendered the bomb harmless

Similar:

innocent; innocuous (lacking intent or capacity to injure)

Also:

benign; benignant (pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence)

innocuous (not injurious to physical or mental health)

painless (not causing physical or psychological pain)

safe (free from danger or the risk of harm)

atoxic; nontoxic (not producing or resulting from poison)

Antonym:

harmful (causing or capable of causing harm)

 Context examples 

Dorothy was an innocent, harmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles from home; and she had never killed anything in all her life.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Most types of E. coli are harmless.

(E. Coli Infections, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

In the production of an attenuated vaccine, the infectious agent is altered so that it becomes harmless or less virulent.

(Attenuated Bacteria Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

An autosomal recessive inherited disorder characterized by unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia, resulting in harmless intermittent jaundice.

(Gilbert Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Marian and her husband would never know, and neither himself nor they nor the world would lose if the pretty, harmless poem ever were published.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Most insect bites are harmless, though they sometimes cause discomfort.

(Insect Bites and Stings, NIH)

Out of so many harmless ones, he said, there may be some wild specimen from the South of a more malignant species.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Most are harmless, but about 30 types put you at risk for cancer.

(HPV, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

The research team discovered that oxygen-sensing proteins, called prolyl hydroxylase domain (PHD) proteins, act within T cells to prevent overly strong immune responses to harmless particles that frequently enter the lung.

(Oxygen can impair cancer immunotherapy in mice, NIH)

A hypersensitive immune reaction to a substance that normally is harmless or would not cause an immune response in most people.

(Allergic response, NCI Dictionary)