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# harmless

adjective (harmless); adverb harmlessly

«harmless» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Harmless means not able to hurt or damage anyone or anything. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#m1)
2. Harmless can mean not meant to upset anyone: harmless fun. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#m2)

### In the lessons

In nature lessons many creatures look scary but are harmless, like most spiders in the UK, grass snakes and slow-worms; others look harmless but are dangerous, so you don't touch wild animals or plants you don't know. In lessons about tricks and teasing, a joke is harmless only if nobody is hurt or upset. In science, «harmless» bacteria do not cause illness. Phrases: harmless fun, completely harmless, perfectly harmless.

### Examples

- That spider is harmless; it won't hurt you. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x1)
- It was just harmless fun, and everyone laughed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x2)
- Most bacteria are harmless. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x3)
- A grass snake is harmless to people. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x4)
- Some berries look harmless but are poisonous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x5)
- The dog looks fierce but it's really harmless. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x6)
- A joke isn't harmless if it makes someone cry. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x7)
- The firework fell harmlessly into the water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x8)
- There she is as harmless as a lamb. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/#x9)

### Note

Built from «harm» + «-less» (without harm). Opposite: harmful, dangerous. Trap: something looking harmless does not prove it is safe; ask an adult before touching unknown animals, plants, mushrooms or liquids.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «harmless» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/harmless/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«harmless» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/harmless.html) on Mova free.