Baneful
Poisonous, harmful, and destructive; capable of causing ruin or injury.
adjectiveBaneful
Poisonous, harmful, and destructive; capable of causing ruin or injury.
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Imagine This
When you inhale poisonous fumes (gas), it will be painful. It must be harmful and destructive if a heavy bale of hay falls on you.
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Sounds Like
BEYN-fuhl
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Looks Like
Resembles the noun bane (cause of ruin) and the suffix -ful; visually hints at danger.
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Remember This
Bane means a cause of ruin or death; baneful uses that root to describe something dangerously harmful or destructive.
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Other Forms
banefullyadverb
banefulnessnoun
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Connect With
harmful, pernicious, deleterious, injurious, destructive
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Note
Baneful is a formal, literary term; in everyday speech you might say harmful, injurious, or destructive. It is not about benign, which means harmless.