Harm
Harm verb - To reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of.
Usage example: the company's reputation has been harmed by allegations of crooked accounting
Ruin is a synonym for harm in damage topic. In some cases you can use "Ruin" instead the word "Harm" as a verb or a noun, when it comes to topics like thing, deed, injure, injury.
Ruin
Ruin verb - To bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of.
Usage example: a huge fire that ruined an entire city block
Harm is a synonym for ruin in thing topic. Sometimes you can use "Harm" instead the word "Ruin" as a verb or a noun, if it concerns topics such as deed.
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| physical | physical harm | physical ruin |
| certain | certain harm | certain ruin |
| real | real harm | real ruin |
| massive | massive harm | massive ruin |
| Other adjectives: big, great, little, bad, personal, major, greater, imminent, financial, magical, ecological. | ||
Common collocations
| character | harm character | ruin character |
| family | harm family | ruin family |
| reputation | harm reputation | ruin reputation |
| someone | harm someone | ruin someone |
| Other words: career, characters, chances. | ||
Both words in one sentence
-
Bald of Evil: Benjamin Being Good Sucks: The methods Jackman takes to keep Hyde away from his family and not doing too much harm pretty much ruin his life.
Source: Series / Jekyll -
Between OG Loc being a complete joke and the people at the party just having a good time and doing no harm, you might actually feel bad when you ruin the party.
- Lothar Hex from Exterminatus Now is psychopathic enough that he regularly attempts to cause harm to next door's dog for no reason, but in order to REALLY get him riled up, all you have to do is ruin his hat.
Source: Ax Crazy / Web Comics
Cite this Source
Ruin and Harm. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 16, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/harm/ruin
Harm & Ruin. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/harm/ruin>.
Ruin or Harm. 2016. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/harm/ruin.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "harm" and "ruin" have occurred on timeline