harm

• harme (obsolete)

From Middle English harm, herm, from Old English hearm, from Proto-West Germanic *harm, from Proto-Germanic *harmaz (“harm; shame; pain”). Cognate with Dutch harm (“harm”), German Harm (“harm”), Swedish harm (“anger, indignation, harm”), Icelandic harmur (“sorrow, grief”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɑːm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɑɹm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m

harm (countable and uncountable, plural harms)

1. Physical injury; hurt; damage.

   No harm came to my possessions.

   You can do a lot of harm to someone if you kick them in the teeth.

2. Emotional or figurative hurt.

   Although not physically injured in the car accident, she received some psychological harm.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.

3. Detriment; misfortune.

   I wish him no harm.

4. That which causes injury, damage, or loss.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     We, ignorant of ourselves, / Beg often our own harms.

harm (third-person singular simple present harms, present participle harming, simple past and past participle harmed)

1. To damage, hurt, or injure something, usually an inanimate object.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:harm

   • 2020 December 16, Yan Ming, “Awakening Moral Conscience”, in Minghui‎^[1]:

     Will justice and conscience of society not be harmed if people avoid the truth?

The verb harm is mostly used to describe metaphorical or inanimate victims. Rarely would one use a sentence such as  He made me angry so I harmed him. when a more explicit action such as  I hit him or even  I hurt him will do.

with nouns

• harm someone's chances
• harm someone's image
• harm someone's health
• harm someone's career
• harm someone's prospects
• harm someone's reputation
• harm someone's team
• harm the ozone layer
• harm the economy
• harm the club
• harm the nation

with adverbs

• critically harm
• deliberately harm
• physically harm

• Hmar, mahr

harm

1. indefinite accusative singular of harmur

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɾˠəmˠ/

harm

1. h-prothesized form of arm

• harem, arme, herme

From Old English hearm, from Proto-West Germanic *harm.

harm (plural harms)

1. harm, injury, ruination

• English: harm
• Scots: herm, hairm
• Yola: harrm

• “harm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

harm

1. accusative singular of harmr

From Proto-Germanic *harmaz.

harm m

1. harm

• Middle Low German: harm, herm

From Old Swedish harmber, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *harmaz. Cognate with English harm.

harm c

1. angry indignation (at something considered unjust)
2. (archaic) (physical or emotional) harm

• harm in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• harm in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• harm in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)