HURTFUL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hurtful mean? 

• HURTFUL (adjective)
  The adjective HURTFUL has 2 senses:

1. causing hurt

2. harmful to living things

  Familiarity information: HURTFUL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HURTFUL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Causing hurt

Context example:

her hurtful unconsidered words

Similar:

unkind (lacking kindness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Harmful to living things

Synonyms:

deleterious; hurtful; injurious

Context example:

deleterious chemical additives

Similar:

harmful (causing or capable of causing harm)

 Context examples 

Her temper was naturally the easiest of the two; her feelings, though quick, were more controllable, and education had not given her so very hurtful a degree of self-consequence.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He glanced at the hand that held the brand, noticing the cunning delicacy of the fingers that gripped it, how they adjusted themselves to all the inequalities of the surface, curling over and under and about the rough wood, and one little finger, too close to the burning portion of the brand, sensitively and automatically writhing back from the hurtful heat to a cooler gripping-place; and in the same instant he seemed to see a vision of those same sensitive and delicate fingers being crushed and torn by the white teeth of the she-wolf.

(White Fang, by Jack London)