deleterious
Word family adverbdeleteriouslyadjectivedeleteriousnoundeleteriousness
del·e·ter·i·ous /ˌdeləˈtɪəriəs◂ $ -ˈtɪr-/ adjectiveadj formal deleterious effects• Kinmond and colleagues' study suggests that a short delay may improve outcome without any obvious deleterious effects.• These are poor in nutrients and their peaty soils have little capacity to absorb any more acid without deleterious effects.• To date, such monitoring has not revealed any deleterious effects from the limited number of organisms which have been released.• Parental divorce has often been assumed to have deleterious effects on children. Origin deleterious (1600-1700) Medieval Latin deleterius, from Greek deleisthai “to hurt”