Vahingoittavaa

Vahingoittavaa is a Finnish adjective form derived from the verb vahingoittaa, meaning to injure or damage. As a present active participle, vahingoittava describes something that causes harm. The form vahingoittavaa is the partitive singular inflection used when the modified noun is in partitive case, for example in phrases like vahingoittavaa vaikutusta, meaning a harmful or injurious effect.

Usage and nuance: vahingoittavaa emphasizes the action of causing harm rather than inherent harmfulness. It is commonly used in safety, health, and environmental contexts to describe substances, processes, or situations that produce damage or injury. It can contrast with haitallinen, which more broadly means harmful or detrimental but does not necessarily focus on the act of causing harm.

Morphology and related forms: the base adjective is vahingoittava (injuring, causing harm). Other forms include vahingoittavaan, vahingoittavaa, vahingoittavalle, etc., depending on case and number. The corresponding noun form is vahingoittuminen (injury, damage event) or vahinko (harm, damage) as a nominal root.

Examples:

- Tämä aine on vahingoittavaa ihmisille, jos sitä käsitellään väärin. (This substance is injurious to people if handled improperly.)

- Tutkimus kartoittaa vahingoittavaa vaikutusta ympäristöön. (The study maps the injurious effect on the environment.)

- Sähkölaitteet, jotka aiheuttavat vahingoittavaa kuumenemista, on poistettava käytöstä. (Electrical devices that cause injurious heating must be removed from service.)

See also: haitallinen, vahingollinen, vahinko.