harmless

adjective

harm·​less ˈhärm-ləs 

1

: free from harm, liability, or loss

2

: lacking capacity or intent to injure : innocuous

a harmless joke

harmlessly adverb

harmlessness noun

Synonyms

• anodyne
• benign
• hurtless
• innocent
• innocuous
• inoffensive
• safe
• white

Examples of harmless in a Sentence

His ideas seem harmless enough.

We're just having a bit of harmless fun.

It was just a harmless joke.

Recent Examples on the Web

Most dogs would do anything for a treat, and while giving them a little snack is usually harmless, constantly overfeeding them can be detrimental to their health. —Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2024

Couples are granting each other permission to share presumably harmless admissions, like covering holes in the ceiling with birthday decorations, which typically escalates into pretty murky territory. —Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 6 Dec. 2024

Alignment data attempts to balance being helpful, truthful and harmless. —Olga Megorskaya, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

With no real-world evidence of human disease transmission and enough failures to make a connection in the lab, eventually many researchers concluded that bedbugs were harmless, at least in this one way. —Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

harmless

adjective

harm·​less ˈhärm-ləs 

1

: free from harm

2

: unable to harm

harmlessly adverb

harmlessness noun

Legal Definition

harmless

adjective

harm·​less

1

: free from harm, liability, or loss

—often used in the phrase to hold harmless see also hold harmless

2

: lacking capacity or intent to injure

harmlessly adverb

harmlessness noun