harm: [OE] The ideas of ‘physical damage’ and ‘grief’ are intimately associated in the word harm: indeed, until the early 17th century it had both meanings, and its relatives, German and Swedish harm, mean exclusively ‘grief’. It appears to be related to Russian sram ‘shame, scandal’, but its ultimate ancestry is not known.
harm (n.)
Old English hearm "hurt, pain; evil, grief; insult," from Proto-Germanic *harmaz (cognates: Old Saxon harm, Old Norse harmr "grief, sorrow," Old Frisian herm "insult; pain," Old High German harm, German Harm "grief, sorrow, harm"), from PIE *kormo- "pain." To be in harm's way is from 1660s.
harm (v.)
Old English hearmian "to hurt, injure," from the noun (see harm (n.)). It has ousted Old English skeþþan (see scathe (v.)) in all but a few senses. Related: Harmed; harming.
权威例句
1. Nudism, the council decided, was doing the resort more harm than good.
委员会认定在休闲胜地的裸体行为弊大于利。
2. These men were never told how they'dbeen put in harm's way.
从来没人告诉这些人他们是如何被置于险境的。
3. All dogs are capable of doing harm to human beings.
只要是狗就可能会咬人。
4. Living together didn't harm our friendship. If anything it strengthened it.
在一起住并没有损害我们的友谊。要说真有什么的话,它反而巩固了我们的友谊。
5. Workers scrambled to carry priceless objects out of harm's way.
工人们争先恐后地将价值连城的物品运到安全的地方。
词语辨析
【destroy, harm, ruin, damage】
这组词都有“破坏”的意思,其区别是:
destroy: 指十分彻底的毁坏,破坏。如:The whole city was destroyed in the earthquake.( 地震中整个城市被毁了。)
harm: 多指带来悲痛,产生恶果的伤害,可以是肉体的也可是精神的。如:Doctors say smoking harms our health.(医生说吸烟对身体有害。)
ruin: 为正式用词,强调由于自然力或时间的作用而逐渐损坏,用于比喻时也指彻底毁坏名声,期望等。如:She poured water all over my painting and ruined it. (她把水倒在画上,把它毁了。)另外,ruin的复数形式ruins表“废墟”。
damage: 一般指部分性的破坏,含可修复使用。