bruise

American  

[brooz] / bruz /

verb (used with object)

• bruises,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bruised,
  past participle,  past
• bruising
  present participle

1. to injure by striking or pressing, without breaking the skin.

   The blow bruised his arm. Her pinching bruised the peaches.

2. to injure or hurt slightly, as with an insult or unkind remark.

   to bruise a person's feelings.

3. to crush (drugs or food) by beating or pounding.

4. Metalworking. to injure the surface of (an ingot or finished object) by collision.

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verb (used without object)

• bruises,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bruised,
  past participle,  past
• bruising
  present participle

1. to develop or bear a discolored spot on the skin as the result of a blow, fall, etc.

2. to become injured slightly.

   His feelings bruise easily.

noun

• bruises
  plural

1. an injury due to bruising; contusion.

bruise British  

/ bruːz /

verb

1. (also intr) to injure (tissues) without breaking the skin, usually with discoloration, or (of tissues) to be injured in this way

2. to offend or injure (someone's feelings) by an insult, unkindness, etc

3. to damage the surface of (something), as by a blow

4. to crush (food, etc) by pounding or pressing

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noun

1. a bodily injury without a break in the skin, usually with discoloration; contusion

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unbruised
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bruises
  plural

Participles

• bruising
  present
• bruised
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bruise
  simple
• bruises
  simple
• have bruised
  perfect
• has bruised
  perfect
• am bruising
  progressive
• are bruising
  progressive
• is bruising
  progressive
• have been bruising
  perfect progressive
• has been bruising
  perfect progressive

Past

• bruised
  simple
• had bruised
  perfect
• was bruising
  progressive
• were bruising
  progressive
• had been bruising
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bruise
  simple
• will have bruised
  perfect
• will be bruising
  progressive
• will have been bruising
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bruise bruises bruised bruising

"An aggressive pacifism, obviously, but we only bruise our victims' egos," he said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

But the images also bring back “the chirping and the beeping,” the panic and urgency, and the toe-prick tests that made Jackson bruise and “squeal” with pain.

From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2026

The officer asks Digwa: "Are you injured?" to which Digwa replies: "Yeah, yeah, I've got a swollen eye here, a little bruise here."

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026

For the Rockets, Kevin Durant missed his third game of the series because of a bone bruise in his sprained left ankle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2026

Seconds later Alf appeared, sporting a fresh bruise on his head.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

When people notice his plentiful bruises, Almásy makes up excuses, leading them to think he’s a klutz.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

“In just two games, I got hit in the face, groin, shin, foot, hand and head,” he says, counting up his bruises.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

He keeps going to the doctor, has bruises on both hands, and brags about passing dementia tests.

From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026

The flat below was badly damaged, and a woman and her teenage son remain in hospital with bruises and minor burns.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

There were bumps and bruises everywhere that needed to heal.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

Salisbury was colorful: A mixed martial arts enthusiast, he once appeared at the agency’s headquarters with his face bruised and eye blackened from a recent bout.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Even with a bruised rotation that includes a banged-up Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles has the best pitching in the game.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

The Buddha, seeing him bruised, bloody, and weeping, smiles and tells him he must bear it.

From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026

The former Radio Disney teen heartthrob, raised Mormon and now openly gay, trades the bruised introspection of 2023’s “Calico” for songs that exult in desire on his new album, “Sweet Fortune.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

She’s been working at it so hard the skin beneath her eyes has become blue and bruised.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Just two years ago, Samuel fell to almost 2,000th in the world rankings as bone bruising in his right arm ruled him out of much of the 2024 season.

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

Since there isn’t much in the way of conversation, the bruising combat scenes take center stage to head-spinning effect.

From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026

Some artificial-intelligence stocks that got knocked off their pedestals, in part due to a bruising July selloff, now represent attractive opportunities for investors, according to BofA analysts.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

Going to prison meant many things: an immediate loss of freedom, bruising reputational damage and powerlessness over how it would affect my family.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Late that summer, still bruising from his failed exam, Mendel planted a crop of peas.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• bang up
• batter
• blacken
• crush
• injure
• mar
• wound