inure
Americanverb (used with object)
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inures,
present (3rd person singular)
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inured,
past participle, past
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inuring
present participle
verb (used without object)
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inures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
inured,
past participle, past
-
inuring
present participle
-
to come into use; take or have effect.
-
to become beneficial or advantageous.
verb
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to cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate
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(intr) (esp of a law, etc) to come into operation; take effect
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inuresimple
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inuressimple
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have inuredperfect
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has inuredperfect
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am inuringprogressive
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are inuringprogressive
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is inuringprogressive
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have been inuringperfect progressive
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has been inuringperfect progressive
Past
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inuredsimple
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had inuredperfect
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was inuringprogressive
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were inuringprogressive
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had been inuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inure
First recorded in 1480–90; verb use of phrase in ure, en ure “in use, customary,” from Anglo-French en ure “in use, at work,” equivalent to en in + ure (from Latin opera, plural of opus ) “work”; compare French oeuvre
Explanation
To inure is to get used to something difficult or unpleasant. If after spending an hour in your brother's room, you stop noticing the stinky-sock smell, you have become inured to the odor. Although the Latin roots of inure mean "in work," it may be easier to think of "in use" when you see inure. Got new shoes that give you blisters? When they are "in use" long enough, your feet will become inured to the spots that rub, and while you may have calluses, you will not be in pain. You can be inured to more abstract things too. When weathermen constantly play up the next big snowstorm or blizzard, you become inured to it and stop paying attention to them.
Vocabulary lists containing inure
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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:
“This will not inure to the benefit of the president.”
From Washington Times ● Apr. 15, 2022
"This will not inure to the benefit of the president."
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2022
Diggs appeared to inure his ankle on an 8-yard run by Eno Benjamin on a first-and-19 play.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2022
“These election concerns are neutral and non-partisan but obviously our labors in that vineyard may incidentally inure to the benefit of one party or another in given cases,” he stated.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2020
He needed to expose Seabiscuit to a similarly unruly gate horse and inure him to the sight of it.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
It could be that watching a number of episodes in succession inures a person somewhat to the off-putting grime that dominated 1971 New York City.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2019
It’s a hard heart that inures to seeing a magnolia warbler, but a gray catbird changes the dynamic, cranking out its full rebuke before Sarver can even get it out of the bag.
From Washington Times ● May 26, 2018
The wisdom of the common law, which made it a crime to go armed to the terror of the people, inures to our benefit today.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2017
This also inures them to crowds, which can be intimidating or distracting to the high-strung creatures.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2015
Like all other free competition, as a rule, it inures enormously to the benefit of the body-whole.
From Preventable Diseases by Woods Hutchinson
People such as Berenger, who have felt most acutely the loneliness of the human condition, are best equipped to endure it, inured as they are to the pain of standing apart from the mob.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Investors have grown somewhat inured to Palantir’s big-talk, it seems.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
For much of LIV's four and a bit seasons, observers have become inured to the riches of its 14 tournaments.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
Once they've been through the criminal process, and perhaps have done some prison time, you somewhat get inured to it.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2024
They still whispered Minya’s words to her, but she had inured herself to them.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Las Vegas didn’t challenge the rest of the way and star guard Chelsea Gray went back to the locker room midway through the fourth quarter after inuring her foot.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 15, 2023
They had to be there daily, inuring themselves to dismay.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nevertheless, I am persuaded that this morning exercise and the inuring would greatly promote the general health.
From Autobiography and Letters of Orville Dewey, D.D. Edited by his Daughter by Mary Elizabeth Dewey
It may perhaps be traced to a cabinet in the Rue des Postes, for the chiefs of the clergy saw more clearly than any one else the danger of inuring the working-men to war.
From History of the Commune of 1871 by P. Lissagary
Hence, as the morning of life is peculiarly favorable to the formation and fixing of habits, the importance of inuring yourself to battle with this inward foe, in this flexible season.
From The Faithful Steward Or, Systematic Beneficence an Essential of Christian Character by Sereno D. Clark
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.
