Detrimental

How to spell detrimental

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce detrimental

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does detrimental mean?

1. adjectiveCausing harm or damage; having a negative effect on something.

Detrimental in a sentence

• Skipping meals can be detrimental to your concentration at work.

• The report warned that the merger would be detrimental to local jobs.

Where does detrimental come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun detrimentum, which meant 'loss', 'damage', or 'harm'. That noun was formed from the verb deterere, 'to rub away' or 'to wear down', built from de- meaning 'away' and terere meaning 'to rub'. The literal image is therefore of something being gradually rubbed or worn until it is damaged, which is why detrimental still carries the sense of slow, harmful erosion rather than a single dramatic blow. English took in the noun 'detriment' from Latin by way of Old French during the 1400s, and the adjective 'detrimental' was coined a little later by adding the familiar -al ending. The same terere root, meaning 'to rub', survives in relatives such as 'trite' (literally worn out by overuse) and 'attrition', so the family connection helps fix the unstressed middle vowel that writers often blur in the spelling.

How the word is built

• detri- (from detrimentum: loss, damage)
• -ment (result of an action)
• -al (adjective suffix)