detriment

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”).

• 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.”

2. (Britain, 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

• 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, The Century Co., New York, 1911