baneful

bane·ful

adj \ˈbān-fəl\

Definition of BANEFUL

1

: productive of destruction or woe : seriously harmful <a baneful influence>

2

archaic : poisonous

— bane·ful·ly \-fə-lē\ adverb

Examples of BANEFUL

1. The legislation could have a baneful effect on the poor.
2. the baneful consequences of war

First Known Use of BANEFUL

1579

Related to BANEFUL

Synonyms: adverse, bad, baleful, harmful, damaging, dangerous, deleterious, detrimental, evil, hurtful, ill, injurious, mischievous, nocuous, noxious, pernicious, prejudicial, wicked

Antonyms: anodyne, benign, harmless, hurtless, innocent, innocuous, inoffensive, safe

Related Words: hostile, inimical, unfriendly; contagious, deadly, infectious, infective, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, poisonous, venomous; insidious, menacing, ominous, sinister, threatening; hazardous, imperiling (or imperilling), jeopardizing, parlous, perilous, risky, unsafe, unsound; nasty, noisome, unhealthful, unhealthy, unwholesome; destructive, fatal, killer, lethal, malignant, ruinous

Near Antonyms: advantageous, beneficial, useful; favorable, good, propitious; curative, healthful, healthy, helpful, palliative, remedial, salubrious, salutary, wholesome; secure, sound; benignant; noncorrosive, nondestructive, nonfatal, noninfectious, nonlethal, nonpoisonous, nonpolluting, nontoxic, nonvenomous

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See Synonym Discussion at pernicious

Rhymes with BANEFUL

gainful, painful