injure
Americanverb (used with object)
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injures,
present (3rd person singular)
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injured,
past participle, past
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injuring
present participle
verb
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to cause physical or mental harm or suffering to; hurt or wound
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to offend, esp by an injustice
Synonym Usage
Injure, impair mean to harm or damage something. Injure is a general term referring to any kind or degree of damage: to injure one's spine; to injure one's reputation. To impair is to make imperfect in any way, often with a suggestion of progressive deterioration and of permanency in the result: One's health is impaired by overwork.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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injurernoun
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reinjureverb (used with object)
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injurableadjective
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injuredadjective
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quasi-injuredadjective
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uninjuredadjective
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uninjuringadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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injuresimple
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injuressimple
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have injuredperfect
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has injuredperfect
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am injuringprogressive
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are injuringprogressive
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is injuringprogressive
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have been injuringperfect progressive
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has been injuringperfect progressive
Past
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injuredsimple
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had injuredperfect
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was injuringprogressive
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were injuringprogressive
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had been injuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of injure
1575–85; back formation from injury (noun); replacing injury (verb)
Explanation
Injure means to hurt, physically or mentally. Lose a bet and you might injure or bruise your pride, but lose your footing and you could injure your body instead. When a player in a sport is injured, they leave the field to be examined by a trainer or a physician, to see how severe their injury really is. If you slip and fall on the ice, your mom might say, "Are you injured?" She doesn't mean a bruise–––she's talking about a broken bone or a sprained ankle. You can also injure or wound someone else. Insult your mother's cooking or tackle your little brother too roughly to the ground and you'll injure them, either emotionally or physically.
Vocabulary lists containing injure
Lesson 1
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Vocabulary Review, Unit 4
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jur, jus, List 1
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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.
See Examples For:
Normally, cases where police seriously injure or kill people are presented for review to the Justice Systems Integrity Division inside the D.A.’s office, which then decides if charges are warranted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
He counsels them not to be afraid, even after early clandestine operations injure first the narrator, then Gavriel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
And in 2024, craft ale company Brew York also recalled cans of its Juice Forsyth IPA over concerns they could explode and injure people.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
It hit a toolshed and did not injure anyone, although it was carrying explosives.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Very conscientiously, he parted the canes and clipped one in the middle, holding the shears at a careful slant, taking care not to injure a larger cane adjacent to it.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
In the past, City's title challenge has come undone due to inconsistency or injures to key players such as Khadija Shaw, Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2026
Higgins on X wrote that the bill as written “reveals and injures thousands of innocent people,” such as witnesses and family members.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
His phone rings during a moment of silence for a deceased patient and he injures his finger moving a patient off a gurney.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025
Sepsis arises when the body has an extreme response to an infection and injures its own tissues and organs.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2024
“I wouldn’t recommend getting struck. Lightning kills an average of 47 people in America every year and severely injures hundreds, maybe thousands.”
From "The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl" by Stacy McAnulty
All-Star closer Edwin Díaz has blown four saves while saving just seven games this season in between stints on the injured list — Tucker and Díaz, insult to injury.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Justin Wrobleski, dealing with forearm inflammation, will be in the bullpen when he returns from the 15-day injured list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
All five people were casino employees, and no guests were involved or injured, according to a Placer County Sheriff’s spokesperson.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
No-one was injured in the attack, with the fire immediately going out after the container landed in a car park.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“What kind of mother would leave her injured son behind?”
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
The American great lost in the doubles with elder sister Venus at the Cincinnati Open on Monday in her first match since injuring her knee at Wimbledon.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
A police pursuit early Wednesday through Los Angeles ended in dramatic fashion when the fleeing vehicle smashed into a row of parked cars, injuring the driver and scattering glass and debris across the road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Phones, power banks and vapes are spontaneously catching fire on planes, injuring passengers and disrupting flights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
There were early concerns for Djokovic when he pulled up and immediately called for the trainer after injuring his lower left leg at 4-4 in the first set.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
"I don't know who did. I'm sorry for injuring him at all—but I had to save my own life. I wish I'd had more time to think it through."
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
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.
