Counterproductive means having the opposite effect to the one intended. Counterproductive to the aim, entirely counterproductive, a counterproductive rule.
It is stronger than useless, since something counterproductive made things worse rather than merely failing. Punishments that increase the behaviour they target are the standard example.
1adjectivecounterproductiveHaving the opposite effect to the one intended.
“Shouting at children is often counterproductive and makes them behave even worse.”
counterproductive is a quality.
Latin
computō
Medieval Latin
computātōrium
Old French
conteor
Middle English
countour
English
counter
English, today
counterproductive
From counter- + productive. counter Middle English countour, from Old French conteor (French comptoir), from Medieval Latin computātōrium, from Latin computō, equivalent to count + er. a doublet of cantore and computer and kontor.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA