Library / English Dictionary

HARMLESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not causing or capable of causing harm

Example:

rendered the bomb harmless

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

innocent; innocuous (lacking intent or capacity to injure)

Also:

benign; benignant (pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence)

innocuous (not injurious to physical or mental health)

painless (not causing physical or psychological pain)

safe (free from danger or the risk of harm)

atoxic; nontoxic (not producing or resulting from poison)

Antonym:

harmful (causing or capable of causing harm)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They then used a harmless virus commonly used for gene therapy to deliver the engineered form into heart cells.

(Engineered protein restores heart function, NIH)

While the microbiome is believed to have many beneficial functions across several organ systems, little is known about how the immune system responds to these harmless bacteria.

(Scientists find microbes on the skin of mice promote tissue healing, immunity, National Institutes of Health)

To repair the abnormalities in the human brain caused by the apoE4 gene, the researchers created compounds that transformed the apoE4 protein into the harmless apoE3 protein.

(Alzheimer's Disease Gene Successfully Removed From Human Brain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

That normally harmless bacteria in the gut could be involved in promoting other autoimmune diseases as well.

(In uveitis, bacteria in gut may instruct immune cells to attack the eye, NIH)

The MOF that Teplensky and team selected breaks down into harmless components that are easily recycled by the cell without harmful side effects.

(Nanoparticles used to transport anti-cancer agent to cells, University of Cambridge)

There are many strains of E. coli, and a large number are either harmless to humans or cause only mild health problems.

(Wash your hands or else spread superbug E. coli, say scientists, Wikinews)

In the new study, the researchers showed that a specific bacterium called Collinsella intestinalis breaks down the chemical fructoselysine into components that are harmless.

(Human Gut Microbe Could Make Processed Foods Healthier, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The scientists next engineered a harmless virus to contain a gene with instructions to make the anti-inflammatory molecule IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra).

(Stem cells grown on scaffold mimic hip joint cartilage, NIH)

I have understood since that they were sea lions, and entirely harmless.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I was not aware that it was necessary to ask your permission before smiling at a harmless pleasantry.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)