a significant harmful effect

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "a significant harmful effect" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing the impact of an action, event, or substance that causes notable damage or negative consequences. Example: "The study revealed a significant harmful effect of pollution on marine life."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Formal & Business

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

1 human-written examples

Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV), identified as the causative pathogen of bovine ephemeral fever (BEF), is responsible for increasing numbers of epidemics/outbreaks and has a significant harmful effect on the livestock industry.

Molecular and Cellular Probes

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

59 human-written examples

These results suggested that municipal sewage effluent could be utilized efficiently as an important source of water, and that the nutrients used in growing foxtail millet with sewage water irrigation did not have any significant harmful effect on crop productivity.

Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences

In a written judgment, Mr Justice Lindblom ruled that the Daily Star Sunday story was likely to have a "very significant harmful effect on the claimant" and a "harmful effect on his... emotional well-being".

The Guardian

For maternal side effects, only beta mimetics continued to show a statistically significant harmful effect, when compared with placebo.

British Medical Journal

The results of our study and those of the other European cohorts point to a statistically significant harmful effect of low carbohydrate and high protein diets in general.

British Medical Journal

However, in none of the published prospective, randomized trials was there a clinically significant harmful effect of SDD in respect to superinfections, nor was there colonization with microorganisms that had acquired resistance to the antibiotics used.

Critical Care

The results indicate that no significant harmful effect is imposed to the cells.

Nanoscale Research Letters

Oral administration of 100-500 mg/Kg body weight of the aqueous extract of P. guajava leaves has been shown to have no significant harmful effect in Winstar rats after 72 h [ 56].

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

For more than half a century, overwhelming evidence has been accumulating that demonstrates significant harmful effects of hyperglycemia.

Diabetes Care

Critical loads are defined as quantitative estimates of an exposure to one or more pollutants below which significant harmful effects on specified ecosystem functions are not expected to occur according to present knowledge [1].

Environmental Sciences Europe

According to the US National Atmospheric Deposition Program NADP (2013, p. 2), a critical load is defined as "…the quantitative estimate of an exposure to one or more pollutants below which significant harmful effects on specified sensitive elements of the environment are not expected to occur according to present knowledge".

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When describing the impact of something, use "a significant harmful effect" to clearly convey that the consequences are both noteworthy and detrimental.

Common error

Avoid using "a significant harmful effect" when the impact is minor or negligible. Ensure the evidence supports the claim of significance to maintain credibility.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "a significant harmful effect" functions as a noun phrase, often serving as the object of a verb or preposition. It describes the presence of a noteworthy and detrimental consequence resulting from a particular action or situation. This is consistent with the Ludwig examples, where the phrase describes concrete impacts.

Expression frequency: Common

Frequent in

Science

47%

News & Media

38%

Wiki

5%

Less common in

Formal & Business

5%

Encyclopedias

0%

Social Media

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "a significant harmful effect" is a phrase used to describe a noteworthy and detrimental consequence. Ludwig AI validates that it is grammatically correct and suitable for formal and scientific contexts, although it also appears in news and general writing. While similar phrases like "a considerable detrimental impact" or "a major adverse consequence" can be used as alternatives, "a significant harmful effect" effectively conveys the magnitude and negativity of the outcome. Ensure the term is used accurately and supported by evidence to maintain clarity and credibility. The phrase appears most often in scientific literature and news outlets, emphasizing its importance in objectively reporting negative impacts.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

a considerable detrimental impact

Replaces "significant" with "considerable" and "harmful effect" with "detrimental impact", altering the specific word choices while maintaining the core meaning.

a major adverse consequence

Substitutes "significant" with "major", "harmful" with "adverse", and "effect" with "consequence", emphasizing the severity of the outcome.

a substantial negative impact

Uses "substantial" instead of "significant" and "negative" for "harmful", offering a slightly different tone.

a pronounced damaging influence

Replaces "significant" with "pronounced", "harmful" with "damaging", and "effect" with "influence", shifting the focus to the power of the effect.

a noteworthy detrimental outcome

Employs "noteworthy" as a synonym for "significant" and "detrimental outcome" for "harmful effect", providing a more formal tone.

a marked injurious result

Substitutes "significant" with "marked", "harmful" with "injurious", and "effect" with "result", creating a more clinical or legal connotation.

a serious deleterious repercussion

Replaces all words with synonyms that increase the formality and intensity of the phrase.

a critical damaging consequence

Here the keyword is shifted by employing "critical" instead of "significant"

a grave adverse effect

The intensity and seriousness is emphasized through "grave" and "adverse"

a consequential detrimental impact

Swaps common adjectives to generate a similar expression.

FAQs

How can I use "a significant harmful effect" in a sentence?

Use "a significant harmful effect" to describe situations where something causes considerable damage or negative consequences. For instance, "The chemical spill had "a significant harmful effect" on the local ecosystem".

What are some alternatives to saying "a significant harmful effect"?

You can use alternatives like "a considerable detrimental impact", "a major adverse consequence", or "a substantial negative impact" depending on the context.

Is it redundant to say "a very significant harmful effect"?

While not strictly redundant, adding "very" can sometimes weaken the statement. If the effect is truly significant, it implies a high degree of impact already. Consider if ""a significant harmful effect"" is strong enough on its own.

What's the difference between "a significant harmful effect" and "a potentially harmful effect"?

"A significant harmful effect" indicates that harm has been observed and is noteworthy. "A potentially harmful effect" suggests that there is a possibility of harm occurring, but it hasn't been confirmed or measured yet.