detriment

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:

     “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.”

   • 2012, Stephen King, 11/22/63, p. 775:

     "Would it be fair to say that when it came to making trouble, you'd make up for what you didn't absolutely know . . . and to our detriment?"

2. (UK, 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

• anti-detriment
• detrimental

Translations

harm, hurt, damage

Bulgarian: вре́да (bg) f (vréda) Catalan: detriment (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 損害／损害 (zh) (sǔnhài) Dutch: schade (nl) n, schadelijk (nl) French: détriment (fr) m Galician: detrimento (gl) m German: Schaden (de) m Gothic: 𐍃𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌰 f (sleiþa) Hungarian: hátrány (hu) Italian: detrimento (it) m, scapito (it) m, svantaggio (it) m Japanese: 損害 (ja) (そんがい, songai) Korean: 상해 (ko) (sanghae) Latin: dētrīmentum n Persian: پتیاره‎ (fa) (petyâre) Portuguese: detrimento (pt) m Russian: вред (ru) m (vred), уще́рб (ru) m (uščérb) Spanish: detrimento (es) Swedish: skada (sv) c Turkish: zarar (tr) Ukrainian: шкода (uk) (škoda)

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

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Romanian

Etymology

From French détriment, from Latin detrimentum.

Noun

detriment n (uncountable)

1. detriment

Declension

declension of detriment (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) detriment	detrimentul
genitive/dative	(unui) detriment	detrimentului
vocative	detrimentule