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
That constant swirling is a driving force behind bursts of energy from the Sun, creating so-called space weather, that can disrupt Earth's power grids and satellites, and could even injure astronauts.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 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
Persistent oxidative stress can injure proteins, fats, and DNA and has been associated with aging and many chronic diseases.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
“Certainly,” said Bogert, irritably, “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow him to come to harm.”
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
One passenger, who suffered severe injuries, and five others with non-life-threatening injures were taken to hospitals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 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
Ms Richards said the fact she did not receive, at the very least, life changing injures was "baffling to me".
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2024
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
In so doing he injures only those whose fields and houses have been taken away and given to the new inhabitants, who are only a small part of that dominion.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Ministers in England have promised to work closely with the other nations of the UK as well as those injured by the Covid vaccine and their families.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Interior Minister Ervin Demo said Friday that 156 people had been injured, including 97 police, in recent days.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
And they didn’t put him on the injured list until early September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Two people were also critically injured and taken to a hospital: a 7-year-old child and a 54-year-old teacher, Krantz said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
I don’t get requests for ambulances from injured people, I get requests for taxicabs from partygoers.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
A friend in her 80s slipped on the stairs to her flooded basement and fell, breaking two posterior ribs and injuring her shoulder.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Rybakina was unable to walk for several days after injuring her ankle in the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, putting her chances of competing here in serious jeopardy.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
A tornado has torn through the French village of Pomas in the country's south-west, injuring 41 people and damaging hundreds of homes.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Alcaraz has been MIA from the courts since April, when he withdrew after injuring the wrist on his right, racket-side hand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 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
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