1
as in damaging
to cause bodily damage to
though she wasn't harmed by the flying glass, she slipped and fell on a piece and cut her hand
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in injuring
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of
the company's reputation has been harmed by allegations of crooked accounting
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of harming
In a bid to address this need, Sivaram founded a software company called Emerald AI to develop grid flexibility for data centers—essentially reducing power consumption at times of peak load demand on the grid during the hottest or coldest days each year—without harming AI operations.
—
Jordan Blum, Fortune, 31 Mar. 2026
The leaderboard’s release coincided with a landmark Los Angeles jury verdict finding Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young user through addictive design features.
—Grace Gilson, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2026
An arborist told Barnhorst to heavily water it for a few days to flush out anything that might be harming it.
—Ashley MacKin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Mar. 2026
Two cases, decided in New Mexico and California, are the first to hold social media companies liable for harming young people.
—Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 26 Mar. 2026
Jurors later recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages after deciding the companies acted with malice, oppression or fraud in harming children with their platforms.
—Arkansas Online, 26 Mar. 2026
There are already signs that the war in Iran is harming business confidence and activity, with private sector output in the euro zone’s manufacturing and services sectors sinking to a 10-month low in March, according to S&P Global flash purchasing managers’ index data released on Tuesday.
—Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
Last week, aldermen voted 30-18 to freeze the ordinance’s implementation, citing rampant concerns from many restaurant owners that the hikes were significantly harming their businesses.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar. 2026
New Mexico is proud to be the first state to hold Meta accountable in court for misleading parents, enabling child exploitation, and harming kids.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2026
Jordan Blum, Fortune, 31 Mar. 2026
The leaderboard’s release coincided with a landmark Los Angeles jury verdict finding Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young user through addictive design features.
—Grace Gilson, Sun Sentinel, 30 Mar. 2026
An arborist told Barnhorst to heavily water it for a few days to flush out anything that might be harming it.
—Ashley MacKin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Mar. 2026
Two cases, decided in New Mexico and California, are the first to hold social media companies liable for harming young people.
—Mary Cunningham, CBS News, 26 Mar. 2026
Jurors later recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages after deciding the companies acted with malice, oppression or fraud in harming children with their platforms.
—Arkansas Online, 26 Mar. 2026
There are already signs that the war in Iran is harming business confidence and activity, with private sector output in the euro zone’s manufacturing and services sectors sinking to a 10-month low in March, according to S&P Global flash purchasing managers’ index data released on Tuesday.
—Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2026
Last week, aldermen voted 30-18 to freeze the ordinance’s implementation, citing rampant concerns from many restaurant owners that the hikes were significantly harming their businesses.
—Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar. 2026
New Mexico is proud to be the first state to hold Meta accountable in court for misleading parents, enabling child exploitation, and harming kids.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harming
Verb
-
An asteroid the size of a house exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk with the force of 440,000 tons of TNT, damaging buildings and injuring more than 1,600 people, according to NASA.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
-
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that an airstrike hit near its Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging a support building.—
Sam Mednick,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The order vacated guilty verdicts from the 2018 trial of Renardo Williams, who was convicted of killing Bethgy Catora and shooting and injuring Mayklens Francois during a drug deal gone wrong.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Rodriguez landed on his knees, injuring his shoulder, and was hoisting himself back up when Hernandez allegedly targeted Williams, according to prosecutors.—
Molly Crane-Newman,
New York Daily News,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Defense attorney Mary Chartier argued that there was reasonable doubt in the case, saying Dale Warner denied hurting his wife and cooperated with investigators during the search.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
5 Apr. 2026
-
That means eliminating Iran's Navy, which is now absolutely destroyed, hurting their Air Force and their missile program at levels never seen before, and annihilating their defense industrial base.—
James Powel,
USA Today,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Ancient lava fields can be seen as dark lunar maria marring the silvery lunar surface, which themselves are threaded with bright streaks of reflective debris strewn across the surface by violent asteroid strikes.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
2 Apr. 2026
-
The demoralizing graffiti marring the main entrance to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 360 Lenox Ave.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
12 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Russia and Ukraine exchanged deadly strikes overnight, killing 10 people and wounding dozens in intense drone warfare.—
Volodymyr Yurchuk,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Apr. 2026
-
State and local authorities are frantically searching for a suspect armed with a long gun who allegedly opened fire at family members and responding law enforcement in New Hampshire on Saturday, wounding a police officer and triggering a massive manhunt.—
Alexandra Koch,
FOXNews.com,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Autonomous systems must handle edge cases and systemic failures without compromising passenger safety.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Apr. 2026
-
This means the hair boasts 80% cuticle alignment, maintains its sumptuous, silky texture after 20+ washes, and undergoes only minimal, delicate acid-washing for sanitation without compromising its integrity.—
Noel Cymone Walker,
StyleCaster,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Anthropic's showdown with the Pentagon this year left OpenAI looking like the bad guy, and just this week Bloomberg reported that demand is weakening for private shares of OpenAI in the secondary market.—
Alexei Oreskovic,
Fortune,
3 Apr. 2026
-
But those safeguards appear to be weakening.—
Jennifer Elias,Jonathan Vanian,
CNBC,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Harming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harming. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
