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An act intended to help that turns out badly
Answer for the clue "An act intended to help that turns out badly ", 10 letters:
disservice
Alternative clues for the word disservice
Word definitions for disservice in dictionaries
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Disservice \Dis*serv"ice\, n. [Pref. dis- + service: cf. F. desservice.] Injury; mischief. We shall rather perform good offices unto truth than any disservice unto their relators. --Sir T. Browne.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s; see dis- + service . Perhaps formed on analogy of French desservice (16c.).
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 ill office 2 detriment, loss 3 harm, damage 4 An ill turn or injury.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS ■ ADJECTIVE great ▪ Stress management experts, however, are now suggesting that auger has been done a great disservice . ▪ Well, it does them a great disservice . ▪ Many perform a great disservice to their members by failing ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. an act intended to help that turns out badly; "he did them a disservice" [syn: ill service , ill turn ] [ant: service ]
Usage examples of disservice.
The woman, Sadra Rosales, was only a conduit, though perhaps I do her a disservice by this dismissal.
I am inclined to suspect that we see in these polymorphic genera variations in points of structure which are of no service or disservice to the species, and which consequently have not been seized on and rendered definite by natural selection, as hereafter will be explained.
Rathmore Hellman was keenly aware of all disservices done him, but also habitually acknowledged good turns.
D were nice people, caring people, and when Leilani shared the details of her situation with them, she couldn't have done them a greater disservice if she had driven a dump truck through the front wall of their house and unloaded a few tons of fresh manure in their living room.
I don’t have to worry if I’ve done a disservice to minorities or expediently helped them endure the near future.
For all we know, these harmless emissions may be the first overtures of an entirely new species of being, or evidence of a previously unknown natural phenomenon, and we would do ourselves and our mission a grave disservice if we prematurely cut ourselves off from that evidence out of fear and distrust.