baneful
adjEtymology From bane + -ful.
1
Archaic Poisonous, deadly.
- [S]ome fell ſerpent in his cave expects / The traveller's approach, batten'd vvith herbs / Of baneful juice to fury, forth he looks / Hideous, and lies coil'd all around his den.1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book XXII.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 577, lines 106–109:
2
Harmful, injurious.
- This contempt of the understanding in early life has more baneful consequences than is commonly supposed […]1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:
- Antonyms
- helpful, productive
- Related terms
- bane, banefully, banefulness, baleful