harnessed

verb

past tense of harness
as in used
to put into action or service huge dams harness the power of water to produce electricity

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of harnessed There were about a million reasons it couldn’t be harnessed, among them the fact that the nearest natural source of EUV is the sun. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026 In a lot of ways, the song mirrors the historic success Karol has harnessed so far on the Tropitour. — Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2026 An amateur astronomer harnessed artificial intelligence agents to find a previously undiscovered exoplanet lurking in publicly available data. — Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2026 Two of the biggest music superstars on the planet have harnessed their powers. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 13 Oct. 2026 The signature is similar to the microbial system harnessed in gene-editing tools such as CRISPR Cas-9, which is used to modify the DNA of living organisms. — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Oct. 2026 The recent success of a late-stage mRNA cancer vaccine, showing the drug stopped the return of melanoma, has boosted hopes that the approach can be successfully harnessed to attack other cancers. — Allison Deangelis, STAT, 5 Oct. 2026 While this could create problems, it could also be harnessed for neuromorphic computing, where interconnected devices mimic the way the brain processes information. — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 2 Oct. 2026 The main restaurant uses 70 percent local suppliers, and the hotel’s water supply is harnessed from rainwater tanks. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 29 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harnessed
  1. used
  2. utilized
  3. applied
  4. exploited
  5. employed
Verb
  • The fraudsters used deepfakes to pose as the company’s chief financial officer on a video call.
    — Muskaan Arshad, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Metallurgical coal used for steelmaking was the last critical material to be given the designation in 2025.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of used
Verb
  • At the time, the team utilized a different error-correction method called Helix to demonstrate record-setting logical memory and computation.
    — Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Atlanta's fourth-quarter comeback attempt allowed tight end Kyle Pitts to show why he should have been better utilized earlier in the game.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of utilized
Verb
  • The gorgeous and tasty caramel and cream cheese frosting looks the best when applied with a small offset spatula to give it that swirly effect on the cake.
    — Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2026
  • While traditionally only achievable in real life through plastic surgery or extreme makeup, it can be applied instantly online using beauty filters.
    — Chloe Veltman, NPR, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of applied
Verb
  • This notorious commercial entity, a precursor of the global corporations of today and big enough to command its own army, ruthlessly exploited foreign resources, human and material.
    — Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
  • That signal can be aggregated, correlated, and exploited by hostile foreign intelligence services to anticipate our movements, targets, and timing.
    — Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of exploited
Verb
  • But the very reticence my father employed to protect us had hollowed out our family.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Gonska pushed back on that assertion, saying the political strategy employed by Bass during the June 2 primary was different from the activities now being conducted by Building LA in the runoff.
    — David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of employed

Browse Nearby Words

harness
harnessed
harnesses
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Harnessed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harnessed. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of grotesque

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All