different between harmful vs execrable

English

Alternative forms

• harmfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English harmful, from Old English *hearmful (suggested by hearmfull?? (“harmful; hurtful”)), equivalent to harm +? -ful.

Cognate with German harmvoll, Danish harmfuld, Swedish harmfull.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h??mfl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??mfl?/

Adjective

harmful (comparative harmfuller or more harmful, superlative harmfullest or most harmful)

1. of a kind likely to be damaging; injurious

   Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "harmful" is often applied: effect, consequence, impact, influence, emission, chemical, ingredient, substance, gas, agent, additive, drug, radiation, dust, organism, plant, animal, insect, action, act, behavior, component, content, activity, interference, use.

Synonyms

• injurious; see also Thesaurus:harmful

Antonyms

• beneficial
• harmless

Translations

See also

• harm

English

Etymology

From Old French execrable, from Latin execrabilis.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??ks?k??bl/, /??ks?k??bl/, /??ksk??bl/

Adjective

execrable (comparative more execrable, superlative most execrable)

1. Of the poorest quality.
2. Hateful.
   • 1779, Jefferson, letter to Patrick Henry written on March 27

     But is an enemy so execrable, that, though in captivity, his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed? I think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "execrable" is often applied: taste, road, crime, murder, thing.

Synonyms

Related terms

• execrableness
• execrably
• execration
• execrate

Translations

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin execr?bilis.

Adjective

execrable (plural execrables)

1. execrable