detriment

See also: détriment

English

Etymology

From Old French detriement, from Latin detrimentum (“loss, damage, literally a rubbing off”), from deterere (“to rub off, wear”), from de- (“down, away”) + terere (“to rub”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛtɹɪmənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

detriment (countable and uncountable, plural detriments)

1. Harm, hurt, damage.
   • 1872, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter 7, in The Possessed‎^[1]:

     “But marriage in secret, Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch — a fatal secret. I receive money from you, and I'm suddenly asked the question, 'What's that money for?' My hands are tied; I cannot answer to the detriment of my sister, to the detriment of the family honour.”

2. (Britain, obsolete) A charge made to students and barristers for incidental repairs of the rooms they occupy.

Usage notes

• Often used in the form "to someone's detriment".

Synonyms

• harm
• hurt
• illfare
• damage
• expense

Antonyms

• benefit

Derived terms

• detrimental

Translations

harm, hurt, damage

• Bulgarian: вреда (bg) f (vréda)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 損害 (zh), 损害 (zh) (sǔnhài)

• Dutch: schade (nl) n, schadelijk (nl)
• French: détriment (fr) m
• Galician: detrimento (gl) m
• German: Schaden (de) m
• Hungarian: hátrány (hu)

• Italian: detrimento (it) m
• Japanese: 損害 (ja) (そんがい, songai)
• Korean: 상해 (ko) (sanghae)
• Portuguese: detrimento (pt) m
• Russian: вред (ru) m (vred), уще́рб (ru) m (uščérb)
• Spanish: detrimento (es)
• Swedish: skada (sv) c
• Turkish: zarar (tr)

Verb

detriment (third-person singular simple present detriments, present participle detrimenting, simple past and past participle detrimented)

1. (transitive, chiefly obsolete) To be detrimental to; to harm or mar.

Further reading

• detriment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• detriment in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.