detriment

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

Detriment is based off the word deter, and built on similar foundations to the word impediment.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛtɹɪmənt/

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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, page 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?"

   • 2023 January 17, Trisha Pasricha, “Is It Bad to Drink Coffee on an Empty Stomach?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     “There’s far more evidence for coffee’s benefits than harms,” Dr. Cryer said — which is something worth keeping in mind, he added, while you scroll through social media stories that profess the brew’s detriments.

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

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

• harm
• hurt
• illfare
• damage
• expense

• benefit

• anti-detriment
• detrimental

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.

• detriment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “detriment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Learned borrowing from Latin detrimentum.

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /də.tɾiˈment/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /də.tɾiˈmen/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /de.tɾiˈment/

detriment m (plural detriments)

1. detriment, harm

   Synonyms: dany, perjudici

2. (astrology) detriment

• “detriment”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023

From French détriment, from Latin detrimentum.

detriment n (uncountable)

1. detriment