harm

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When an act is said to be done with an intent to do harm, it is meant that a wish for the harm is the motive of the act.

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Physical or psychological injury or damage.
  2. noun Wrong; evil.
  3. transitive verb To do harm to.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • That difference being that one is done with the intent to cause harm, and the other is not necessarily the same - the harm is a by-product of the act itself
  • When Charles V. of Spain, in the year 1547, came through Thuringia upon a march to Franconia and Suabia, this lady, the Dowager Countess Katharina of Schwarzburg, got a letter of protection from him, to the effect that none of her subjects should suffer any harm from the Spanish troops. —  Chatterbox, 1906
  • The disk harrow has some place as a substitute for a plow, but when its use results in making a soil more shallow, the harm is a most serious one Cultivation of Plants.--If a soil would remain mellow throughout the season, there usually would be no reason to disturb the roots of plants by any deep stirring, and all tillage would be only deep enough to make a mulch of earth for the retention of moisture and to destroy all weeds. —  Crops and Methods for Soil Improvement
  • To assume the prerogative of privately doing oneself justice, when recourse can be had to the tribunals of justice, is to sin, and every act committed in this pursuit of justice is unlawful and criminal This applies likewise to all the other cases of self-defense wherein life, virtue and wealth are concerned, if the harm is already done, or if legal measures can prevent the evil, or undo it. —  Explanation of Catholic Morals A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals
  • In this case the quantity of harm aggravates the sin directly, because then the harm is the direct object of the sin. —  Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) From the Complete American Edition
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

harm:   harming ·  harmed ·  harms
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hearm.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English harm, herm, from Anglo-Saxon hearm = Old Saxon harm = OFries. herm (in comp.) = Middle Low German harm, herm = Old High German haram, insult, mortification, Middle High German harm (not used). G. harm, grief, sorrow, = Icelandic harmr, grief, = Swedish harm, anger, grief, pity, = Danish harme, resentment, wrath; prob. = Old Bulgarian sramu = Russian srame, shame; perhaps = Sanskrit çrama, weariness, toil, from √ çram, be weary.
  2. from Middle English harmen, hermen, harmien, from Anglo-Saxon hearmian, hurt, injure, = Old High German harmān, Middle High German hermen, insult, calumniate, German härmen, afflict, grieve, = Icelandic harma, bewail, reflexive harmask = Swedish harmas = Danish harmes, be vexed; from the noun.
 

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/hɑrm/
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