bruise
Americanverb (used with object)
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to injure by striking or pressing, without breaking the skin.
The blow bruised his arm. Her pinching bruised the peaches.
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to injure or hurt slightly, as with an insult or unkind remark.
to bruise a person's feelings.
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to crush (drugs or food) by beating or pounding.
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Metalworking. to injure the surface of (an ingot or finished object) by collision.
verb (used without object)
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to develop or bear a discolored spot on the skin as the result of a blow, fall, etc.
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to become injured slightly.
His feelings bruise easily.
noun
verb
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(also intr) to injure (tissues) without breaking the skin, usually with discoloration, or (of tissues) to be injured in this way
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to offend or injure (someone's feelings) by an insult, unkindness, etc
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to damage the surface of (something), as by a blow
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to crush (food, etc) by pounding or pressing
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bruise
before 900; Middle English bro ( o ) sen, bres ( s ) en, bris ( s ) en, bruisen, representing Old English brȳsan, brēsan and Anglo-French bruser, Old French bruisier, akin to briser to break; see brisance
Explanation
If you're just learning to skateboard, you’ve probably got an ugly bruise or two to show for it — those purple and yellow patches you get on your skin where you’ve bumped and scraped. They probably hurt, too! You can find bruises at the grocery store, too — those soft, mushy spots on a peach or an apple — and if you drop a tomato, you're likely to bruise it. You can bruise your knee or bruise someone's feelings — if you tell your friend you don't like her novel, you’ll bruise her ego.
Vocabulary lists containing bruise
"Abolish high school football!"
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"After Apple-Picking" by Robert Frost
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"The Astronomer"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Bruise me up, I'll eat all of my pride / I know that I was made to divinize."
From BBC • Nov. 6, 2025
Among the thousands of items in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection is the 1980 Nan Goldin photograph titled “Heart-Shaped Bruise, NYC.”
From New York Times • Nov. 22, 2022
Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne This is a gritty psychological thriller set in the psychiatric unit of a young offenders institution.
From The Guardian • Nov. 26, 2015
And Saeed Jones' "Prelude to Bruise" won the $5,000 PEN award for poetry.
From US News • May 13, 2015
Bruise them well, and let the whole stand twenty-four hours, stirring it occasionally during that time.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
