wound

¹ American  

[woond, wound] / wund, waʊnd /

noun

1. an injury, usually involving division of tissue or rupture of the integument or mucous membrane, due to external violence or some mechanical agency rather than disease.

   Synonyms:

   trauma , lesion , laceration , stab , cut

2. a similar injury to the tissue of a plant.

3. an injury or hurt to feelings, sensibilities, reputation, etc.

   Synonyms:

   anguish , pain , insult

---

verb (used with object)

1. to inflict a wound upon; injure; hurt.

   Synonyms:

   lacerate , stab , cut , damage , harm

verb (used without object)

1. to inflict a wound.

idioms

1. lick one's wounds,  to attempt to heal one's injuries or soothe one's hurt feelings after a defeat.

wound ² American  

[wound] / waʊnd /

verb

1. a simple past tense and past participle of wind and wind.

---

wound ¹ British  

/ wuːnd /

noun

1. any break in the skin or an organ or part as the result of violence or a surgical incision

2. an injury to plant tissue

3. any injury or slight to the feelings or reputation

---

verb

1. to inflict a wound or wounds upon (someone or something)

wound ² British  

/ waʊnd /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of wind 2

---

wound More Idioms  

1. see lick one's wounds; rub in (salt into a wound).

---

Related Words

See injury.

Other Word Forms

• woundable adjective
• woundedly adverb
• wounder noun
• wounding adjective
• woundingly adverb
• woundless adjective

Etymology

Origin of wound

First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English wund; cognate with Old High German wunta ( German Wunde ), Old Norse und, Gothic wunds; (verb) Middle English wounden, Old English wundian, derivative of the noun

Example Sentences

Mr Seskliotis is not the kind of farmer who sits and counts his wounds.

From BBC

Season 1 was surprisingly great — a gory but smart, richly developed retro-futuristic reflection of class conflict — and wound up being one of Prime Video’s most-watched shows ever.

From MarketWatch

After the U.S. wound down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, defense-tech companies such as Shield AI found that a pipeline flowing with billions of dollars in defense contracts had slowed to a trickle.

From The Wall Street Journal

The news brought a measure of closure but also reopened old wounds.

From Barron's

Instead of sending the letter, she wound up making the same points in phone calls and also threatened to pull American support for the probe, according to people familiar with the matter.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• bruise
• cut
• damage
• grief
• laceration
• lesion
• pain
• shock
• trauma