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disservice

disservice

45 5.5
An action that harms someone even though it is meant to help them
  • noun
  • /dɪsˈsɜːrvɪs/
translation icon : perjuicio
  • He realized that giving her false praise was a disservice to her potential.
  • a great disservice
  • a grave disservice
  • a disservice to students

And I think that this does some disservice to the practices themselves.

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Examples

  • Clearly, we do our young people a great disservice by continuing to use such misleading and dangerous curricula.

    Academic text (2007)
  • In the end, it does a disservice to the memory of our dear departed friend.

  • We were doing a disservice to our countries and to our people.

  • So I was doing him a disservice trying to get him to see the light.

  • I think that it was almost a disservice to the play.

  • I did Sarah a great disservice when I married her.

  • By doing so, we are doing a disservice to our students as future workers and citizens.

    Academic text (2006)
  • You would be doing the children of this community a great disservice.

  • Applicants can do themselves a disservice when they send out resumes with more information than needed.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Environments that isolate our elders from other age groups do a disservice to all of society.

    Academic text (1995)

Synonyms

wrong
vsdisservice
103 2.3

An unfair act that harms or injures someone

emphasizes harm from attempted help rather than general unfairness
detriment
vsdisservice
39 6.3

Harm that makes someone or something worse

emphasizes harm that especially comes from an action meant to help
ill service
vsdisservice
8.3

An act of help that does harm rather than good

is the same idea but expressed as a different phrasing
ill turn
vsdisservice
8.1

An action meant to help that causes harm or trouble

is the same idea but presented with alternate wording

Antonyms

1.6

Work done to help other people, often as a job

676 2.3

To help someone or be helped by something

How Harmful

harm
820 1.0
disservice
45 5.5
assistance
947 1.0
to benefit
676 2.3

Surface Forms

disservice singular
disservices plural

Morphology

disservice = service (semi-transparent) = dis + service

The negative prefix clearly signals an opposite or harmful relation to 'service', but the specific noun meaning 'harm done under the guise of help' is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Disservice breaks into dis- meaning 'not' and service meaning 'help', as in the verb serve. So a disservice is literally 'not a help' and means an action that harms someone even when it was meant to help.