harmless, naughty, aggressive, amusing, ordinary: meanings and examples

Learn these 5 words from Intermediate set 17. Each entry includes a definition, example sentence, pronunciation, and synonyms. Use the interactive cards above to practice them.

1. harmless · adjective/ˈhɑrmləs/

   causing no danger to anyone or anything

   Hydrogen-powered cars are nearly harmless to the environment.

   Synonyms: safe, gentle

   Origin: Middle English: from harm + -less

2. naughty · adjective/ˈnɔdi/

   behaving badly — usually said about children

   There are some parenting tips that you can get from experts and websites to help deal with naughty children.

   Synonyms: badly behaved, mischievous

   Origin: late Middle English: from naught+ -y. The earliest recorded sense was ‘possessing nothing’; the sense ‘wicked’ also dates from late Middle English, and gave rise to the current senses

3. aggressive · adjective/əˈɡrɛsɪv/

   behaving in an angry or violent way

   The customer became aggressive and started shouting at the staff.

   Synonyms: violent, angry, threatening

   Origin: late 17th century: from modern Latin aggressivus, from Latin aggress- ‘attacked’ (from the verb aggredi); compare with French agressif, -ive

4. amusing · adjective/əˈmjuzɪŋ/

   causing joy, laughter and entertainment

   Sometimes, when old people come together, they talk about amusing childhood memories of each other and burst into laughter.

   Synonyms: entertaining, funny, enjoyable

   Origin: from amuse, from Old French amuser ‘entertain, deceive’

5. ordinary · adjective/ˈɔrdnˌɛri/

   not special or different in any way; normal

   The economic crisis affects the life of ordinary people more than it affects the very rich.

   Synonyms: common, regular, normal

   Origin: late Middle English: the noun partly via Old French; the adjective from Latin ordinarius ‘orderly’ (reinforced by French ordinaire), from ordo, ordin- ‘order’