hurt
Americanverb (used with object)
-
hurts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hurt,
past participle, past
-
hurting
present participle
-
to cause bodily injury to; injure.
He was badly hurt in the accident.
-
to cause bodily pain to or in.
The wound still hurts him.
-
to damage or decrease the efficiency of (a material object) by striking, rough use, improper care, etc..
Moths can't hurt this suit because it's mothproof.
Dirty oil can hurt a car's engine.
-
to affect adversely; harm.
to hurt one's reputation;
It wouldn't hurt the lawn if you watered it more often.
-
to cause mental pain to; offend or grieve.
She hurt his feelings by not asking him to the party.
verb (used without object)
-
hurts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hurt,
past participle, past
-
hurting
present participle
-
to feel or suffer bodily or mental pain or distress.
My back still hurts.
- Synonyms:
- ache
-
to cause bodily or mental pain or distress.
The blow to his pride hurt most.
-
to cause injury, damage, or harm.
-
to suffer want or need.
noun
adjective
-
physically injured.
The hurt child was taken to the hospital.
-
offended; unfavorably affected.
hurt pride.
-
suggesting that one has been offended or is suffering in mind.
Take that hurt look off your face!
-
damaged.
hurt merchandise.
verb
-
to cause physical pain to (someone or something)
-
to cause emotional pain or distress to (someone)
-
to produce a painful sensation in (someone)
the bruise hurts
-
informal (intr) to feel pain
noun
-
physical, moral, or mental pain or suffering
-
a wound, cut, or sore
-
damage or injury; harm
adjective
noun
Usage
And is hurted in the dictionary? Hurted is not listed as a word in this dictionary. It’s not used as the standard past tense of hurt, nor is it commonly used in any other way. (General note: Just because a word doesn’t appear in the dictionary doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “not a word.” Some people may use it, and if enough people eventually start using it, it may be added to the dictionary.)
What’s the past tense of hurt?
The past tense of hurt is simply hurt. Example: I hurt my arm yesterday. Because the past tense is not formed with -ed, it’s an example of an irregular verb. Like hurt, the past tense form of many other irregular verbs is the same as the present tense. Many common ones are also short words that end in t, such as set, hit, cut, shut, put, and quit.Synonym Usage
See injury.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hurtsimple
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hurtssimple
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have hurtperfect
-
has hurtperfect
-
am hurtingprogressive
-
are hurtingprogressive
-
is hurtingprogressive
-
have been hurtingperfect progressive
-
has been hurtingperfect progressive
Past
-
hurtsimple
-
had hurtperfect
-
was hurtingprogressive
-
were hurtingprogressive
-
had been hurtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hurt
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English verb hurten, hirten, herten “to injure, damage, stumble, knock together,” apparently from Old French hurter “to knock (against), oppose” (compare French heurter, originally dialectal), probably a verbal derivative of Frankish unattested hûrt “ram,” cognate with Old Norse hrūtr; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
If you have a party and no one shows up, you will probably feel hurt: emotionally injured by what's happened. Hurt comes from the Old French hurte, meaning "collision," or "blow." We still have that violent sense in our word hurtle but we use hurt for a whole range of pains. If you stub your toe, it hurts, and if someone is beating you up you might say, "Stop hurting me!" Someone injured in battle or in sports is described as hurt. If you say something you shouldn't on live radio, you'll hurt your chances of winning an election.
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.
See Examples For:
The company said at the time that the attention hurt its second-quarter sales, and that it expected the headwinds to continue to dent sales and profits in the near term.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Prosecutors said Semenyo was "clearly hurt and upset" and reported the incident to referee Anthony Taylor when the ball next went out of play.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Policymakers around the world are having difficult discussions about how to sustain market-based systems amid distortionary policies from some economies that skew competition and hurt employment," Bessent said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Six in 10 surveyed hoteliers expect an Olympic rental surge to hurt their bookings and rates, the report says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
At least Berlin could sit by the river, take in the music, and maybe she could forget about how much it was going to hurt, going home, when she would be going home a failure.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The situation that we wanted to sustain throughout the season was she’s not doing these things because she got shot, her stomach hurts and she’s mad.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Competition from Chinese finished goods hurts some producers, while cheaper Chinese components help others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
"It's people that make entertainment, it's the everyday creatives that this industry is built on - this is who it hurts."
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Inflation hurts longer-dated bonds more than shorter-dated maturities, especially if the Federal Reserve needs to hike rates by more than expected.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
I’ve been holding my open laptop ever since he shoved it back in my hands, and my arm hurts from its weight.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Much of the money has been wasted, financing factories and apartment blocks for which there isn’t enough demand, sparking debilitating price wars, and hurting profits and wages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
No one on the stage is hurting for work; they’re doing this for the joy of it, and probably because it’s a challenge.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
“It’s like any other caregiving task. It feels less bad the further you go along. He was actively hurting himself. He had over $1,000 in insufficient-funds fees because he wasn’t keeping track of his spending.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
"I was hurting inside, so I came to tell my story."
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
I still didn’t like the idea of hurting my plant, but I liked the idea of getting the control.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
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