Synonyms and antonyms of To have a bad effect, or to reduce a good effect in British Thesaurus

damage (verb)

to have a negative effect on someone or something

spoil (verb)

to affect something in a way that makes it worse, less attractive, or less enjoyable

harm (verb)

to injure, damage, or have a bad effect on someone or something

contaminate (verb)

to affect something or someone in a negative way

bite (verb)

to have an unpleasant effect

offset (verb)

to balance the effect of something, with the result that there is no advantage or disadvantage

cancel out ()

to stop something from having any effect

overshadow (verb)

to be a negative feature or influence that spoils something

taint (verb)

to give something an unpleasant quality that spoils it and often makes people not want it, or not want to be involved with it

nullify (verb)

to make something lose its value or effect

ail (verb)

formal to have a bad or harmful effect on someone or something

break the spell ()

to spoil or end something very special

breed (verb)

to make negative feelings or situations develop

clobber (verb)

informal to badly affect someone or something, especially in a way that involves losing money

cloud (verb)

to spoil an activity, event, or situation

coarsen (verb)

to make someone or something less polite or less sensitive

cost (verb)

to cause someone to lose something good or valuable

dehumanise ()

a British spelling of dehumanize

dehumanize (verb)

to make people seem less real or important than normal people

dent (verb)

to have a bad effect on something

doom (verb)

to make someone or something certain to fail, be destroyed, be extremely unhappy etc

do someone/something a disservice/do a disservice to someone/something ()

to do something that makes people’s opinion of someone or something not as good as it should be

drive (verb)

to force someone into a bad situation or state

gild the lily ()

used for saying that someone has spoiled a good thing by trying to improve it

hit (verb)

to have a bad effect on someone or something

hurt (verb)

to cause damage or problems, or to harm someone’s chance to succeed at something

impair (verb)

formal to make something less good or effective, especially by causing damage that affects the way something works

leave your/a mark (on) ()

to have a very strong and noticeable effect on someone or something, usually a bad one that lasts for a long time

loose on (formal or literary)

formal or literary to suddenly let something bad or unpleasant have its full effect on someone or something in an uncontrolled way

muck up ()

to spoil something or prevent it from being successful

negate (verb)

formal to make something have no effect

neutralise ()

a British spelling of neutralize

neutralize (verb)

to stop something from having any effect

overegg the pudding ()

to spoil something by doing or adding more than is needed

poison (verb)

to have a bad influence on something

put out ()

to affect numbers or calculations in a way that makes them incorrect

screw up (very informal)

very informal to make a serious mistake, or to spoil something, especially a situation

skew (verb)

to affect facts or information so that they are not accurate

strike at ()

to be likely to seriously damage or destroy something important

take away from ()

to reduce the positive effect or success of something

take its toll ()

to harm or damage someone or something, especially in a gradual way

take the shine off something ()

to spoil something, or to make it less enjoyable

tell against ()

if a quality or feature tells against someone, it makes them less likely to succeed in achieving something

upset the applecart ()

to spoil someone’s plan or arrangement