Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

contuse

American  
[kuhn-tooz, -tyooz] / kənˈtuz, -ˈtjuz /

verb (used with object)

contused, contusing
  1. to injure (tissue), especially without breaking the skin; bruise.


contuse British  
/ kənˈtjuːz /

verb

  1. (tr) to injure (the body) without breaking the skin; bruise

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of contuse

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin contūsus, past participle of contundere “to bruise, crush,” equivalent to con- “with, together” + tud- (root with nasal infix of tundere “to beat”) + -tus past participle suffix, with -dt- becoming -s- ; see con-

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:

In this geographical dissertation the word Niger is still used, which is a name altogether unknown in Africa, and calculated to contuse the geographical enquirer.

From An Account of Timbuctoo and Housa Territories in the Interior of Africa by James Grey Jackson

No bald Mare my Gammon shall contuse again by one more Toss.

From The Merry-Thought: or the Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany Parts 2, 3 and 4 by Maximillian E. Novak

“The contused areas show the swelling to be receding.”

From Seattle Times Nov. 4, 2018

That day, he’d seen an elderly man who had taken a bad spill two or three weeks earlier, resulting in a contused kidney and a compression fracture of his lower spine.

From The New Yorker May 4, 2015

I’m all in favor of marketers evolving beyond the farting animals and contused groins of Super Bowls past.

From Slate Feb. 2, 2015

Her aunts, Faith and Doreen, are superficially brassy but contused underneath.

From The Guardian Mar. 22, 2013

The awful strain he had undergone, and the anguish of his contused ankle, now stiff and sore, rendered such a rest absolutely essential.

From The Triumph of Hilary Blachland by Bertram Mitford

No one, sir, could have made an amputation of it, without severely contusing his conscience.

From White Jacket or, the World on a Man-of-War by Herman Melville

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training