non-lethal

Meaning

1. adjective Not capable of causing death.

   a non-lethal dose

2. adjective Designed to cause incapacitation without causing death.

   Government officials think a universal malodor, or offensive odor, might prove effective as a non-lethal weapon.

3. noun Any weapon that incapacitates without causing death.

Similar words

nonfatal nonlethal inoffensive harmless innocuous lethal unlethal nondeadly nonmortal sublethal