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Spiteful vs Harmful - What's the difference?

spiteful | harmful | Related terms |

Spiteful is a related term of harmful.


As adjectives the difference between spiteful and harmful

is that spiteful is filled with, or showing, spite; having a desire to vex, annoy, or injure; malignant; malicious while harmful is of a kind likely to be damaging; injurious.

spiteful

English

(Webster 1913)

Alternative forms

* spightful (obsolete) * spightfull (obsolete) * spitefull (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Filled with, or showing, spite; having a desire to vex, annoy, or injure; malignant; malicious

    • External links

    * *

    harmful

    English

    Alternative forms

    * harmfull (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • of a kind likely to be damaging; injurious
    • Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight.

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "harmful" is often applied: effect, consequence, impact, influence, emission, chemical, ingredient, substance, gas, agent, additive, drug, radiation, dust, organism, plant, animal, insect, action, act, behavior, component, content, activity, interference, use.

    Synonyms

    * injurious; see also

    Antonyms

    * beneficial * harmless

    See also

    * harm