hurt
Other forms: hurts; hurting; hurted; hurter
If you have a party and no one shows up, you will probably feel hurt: emotionally injured by what's happened.
Hurt comes from the Old French hurte, meaning "collision," or "blow." We still have that violent sense in our word hurtle but we use hurt for a whole range of pains. If you stub your toe, it hurts, and if someone is beating you up you might say, "Stop hurting me!" Someone injured in battle or in sports is described as hurt. If you say something you shouldn't on live radio, you'll hurt your chances of winning an election.
Definitions of hurt
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be the source of pain
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types:
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bite, burn, sear, sting
cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort
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burn
feel hot or painful
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itch
have or perceive an itch
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hunger
feel the need to eat
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thirst
feel the need to drink
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act up
make itself felt as a recurring pain
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throb
pulsate or pound with abnormal force
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shoot
cause a sharp and sudden pain in
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tickle, titillate, vellicate
touch (a body part) lightly so as to excite the surface nerves and cause uneasiness, laughter, or spasmodic movements
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nettle, urticate
sting with or as with nettles and cause a stinging pain or sensation
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twang
twitch or throb with pain
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prickle, tingle
cause a stinging or tingling sensation
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type of:
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cause to be perceived
have perceptible qualities
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give trouble or pain to“This exercise will hurt your back”
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types:
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injure, wound
cause injuries or bodily harm to
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ail, pain, trouble
cause bodily suffering to and make sick or indisposed
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disagree with
not be very easily digestible
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trample
injure by trampling or as if by trampling
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concuss
injure the brain; sustain a concussion
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calk
injure with a calk
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excruciate, torment, torture
subject to torture
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overstretch, pull
strain abnormally
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shock, traumatise, traumatize
inflict a trauma upon
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maim
injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation
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rick, sprain, turn, twist, wrench, wrick
twist suddenly so as to sprain
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subluxate
sprain or dislocate slightly
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disable, handicap, incapacitate, invalid
injure permanently
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harm
cause or do harm to
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run down, run over
injure or kill by running over, as with a vehicle
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break, fracture
fracture a bone of
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break out, erupt, recrudesce
become raw or open
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hit, pip, shoot
hit with a missile from a weapon
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knife, stab
use a knife on
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scrape, skin
bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of
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bruise, contuse
injure the underlying soft tissue or bone of
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graze
break the skin (of a body part) by scraping
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mace
spray with a liquid that irritates the eyes and temporarily disables a person
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type of:
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indispose
cause to feel unwell
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feel pain or be in pain
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synonyms:
suffer
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Antonyms:
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be well
be healthy; feel good
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types:
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have
suffer from; be ill with
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choke, gag, strangle, suffocate
struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
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ail
be ill or unwell
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famish, hunger, starve
be hungry; go without food
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type of:
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be
have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
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be well
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feel physical pain“Were you hurting after the accident?”
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catch, get
suffer from the receipt of
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twinge
feel a sudden sharp, local pain
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prick, sting, twinge
cause a stinging pain
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kill
be the source of great pain for
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prick, prickle
cause a prickling sensation
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type of:
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comprehend, perceive
become aware of through the senses
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cause emotional anguish or make miserable
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break someone's heart
cause deep emotional pain and grief to somebody
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agonise, agonize
cause to agonize
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try
give pain or trouble to
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excruciate, rack, torment, torture
torment emotionally or mentally
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type of:
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discomfit, discompose, disconcert, rattle, untune, upset
cause to lose one's composure
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hurt the feelings of“She hurt me when she did not include me among her guests”
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affront, diss, insult
treat, mention, or speak to rudely
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lacerate
deeply hurt the feelings of; distress
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sting
cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging
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abase, chagrin, humble, humiliate, mortify
cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
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crush, demolish, smash
humiliate or depress completely
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degrade, demean, disgrace, put down, take down
reduce in worth or character, usually verbally
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feelings of mental or physical pain
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synonyms:
suffering
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types:
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agony, torment, torture
intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
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throes
violent pangs of suffering
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discomfort, irritation, soreness
an uncomfortable feeling of mental painfulness or distress
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type of:
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pain, painfulness
emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid
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agony, torment, torture
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any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.
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types:
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brain damage
injury to the brain that impairs its functions (especially permanently); can be caused by trauma to the head, infection, hemorrhage, inadequate oxygen, genetic abnormality, etc.
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birth trauma
physical injury to an infant during the birth process
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blast trauma
injury caused the explosion of a bomb (especially in enclosed spaces)
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bleeding, haemorrhage, hemorrhage
the flow of blood from a ruptured blood vessel
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blunt trauma
injury incurred when the human body hits or is hit by a large outside object (as a car)
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bruise, contusion
an injury that doesn't break the skin but results in some discoloration
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bump
a lump on the body caused by a blow
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burn
an injury caused by exposure to heat or chemicals or radiation
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dislocation
a displacement of a part (especially a bone) from its normal position (as in the shoulder or the vertebral column)
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electric shock
trauma caused by the passage of electric current through the body (as from contact with high voltage lines or being struck by lightning); usually involves burns and abnormal heart rhythm and unconsciousness
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break, fracture
breaking of hard tissue such as bone
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cryopathy, frostbite
destruction of tissue by freezing and characterized by tingling, blistering and possibly gangrene
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intravasation
entry of foreign matter into a blood vessel
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penetrating injury, penetrating trauma
injury incurred when an object (as a knife or bullet or shrapnel) penetrates into the body
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pinch
an injury resulting from getting some body part squeezed
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rupture
the state of being torn or burst open
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bite, insect bite, sting
a painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin
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strain
injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain
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whiplash, whiplash injury
an injury to the neck (the cervical vertebrae) resulting from rapid acceleration or deceleration (as in an automobile accident)
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wale, weal, welt, wheal
a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions
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lesion, wound
an injury to living tissue (especially an injury involving a cut or break in the skin)
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pull, twist, wrench
a sharp strain on muscles or ligaments
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raw wound
a wound that exposes subcutaneous tissue
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stigmata
marks resembling the wounds on the crucified body of Christ
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abrasion, excoriation, scrape, scratch
an abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off
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cut, gash, slash, slice
a wound made by cutting
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laceration
a torn ragged wound
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bite
a wound resulting from biting by an animal or a person
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bee sting
a sting inflicted by a bee
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flea bite
sting inflicted by a flea
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mosquito bite
a sting inflicted by a mosquito
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haemorrhagic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke
stroke caused by the rupture of a blood vessel in the brain
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ecchymosis
the purple or black-and-blue area resulting from a bruise
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petechia
a minute red or purple spot on the surface of the skin as the result of tiny hemorrhages of blood vessels in the skin (as in typhoid fever)
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black eye, mouse, shiner
a swollen bruise caused by a blow to the eye
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electric burn
a burn caused by heat produced by an electric current
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scorch, singe
a surface burn
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scald
a burn cause by hot liquid or steam
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first-degree burn
burn causing redness of the skin surface
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second-degree burn
burn causing blisters on the skin and superficial destruction of the dermis
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third-degree burn
burn characterized by destruction of both epidermis and dermis
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comminuted fracture
fracture in which the bone is splintered or crushed
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complete fracture
break involving the entire width of the bone
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compound fracture, open fracture
bone fracture associated with lacerated soft tissue or an open wound
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compression fracture
fracture in which the bone collapses (especially in short bones such as vertebrae)
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depressed fracture
fracture of the skull where the bone is pushed in
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displaced fracture
fracture in which the two ends of the broken bone are separated from one another
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fatigue fracture, stress fracture
fracture resulting from excessive activity rather than a specific injury
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capillary fracture, hairline fracture
a fracture without separation of the fragments and the line of the break being very thin
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incomplete fracture
fracture that does not go across the entire width of the bone
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impacted fracture
fracture in which one broken end is wedged into the other broken end
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closed fracture, simple fracture
an uncomplicated fracture in which the broken bones to not pierce the skin
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abarticulation
dislocation of a joint
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diastasis
separation of an epiphysis from the long bone to which it is normally attached without fracture of the bone
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spondylolisthesis
a forward dislocation of one vertebra over the one beneath it producing pressure on spinal nerves
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hernia, herniation
rupture in smooth muscle tissue through which a bodily structure protrudes
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herniated disc, ruptured intervertebral disc, slipped disc
a painful rupture of the fibrocartilage of the disc between spinal vertebrae; occurs most often in the lumbar region
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sprain
a painful injury to a joint caused by a sudden wrenching of its ligaments
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immersion foot, trench foot
resembling frostbite but without freezing; resulting from exposure to cold and wet
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cerebral hemorrhage
bleeding from a ruptured blood vessel in the brain
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blood extravasation
the leakage of blood from a vessel into tissues surrounding it; can occur in injuries or burns or allergic reactions
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hyphema
bleeding into the interior chamber of the eye
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metrorrhagia
bleeding from the uterus that is not due to menstruation; usually indicative of disease (as cervical cancer)
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epistaxis, nosebleed
bleeding from the nose
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ulemorrhagia
bleeding of the gums
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type of:
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health problem, ill health, unhealthiness
a state in which you are unable to function normally and without pain
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psychological suffering
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anguish, torment, torture
extreme mental distress
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self-torment, self-torture
self-imposed distress
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tsoris
(Yiddish) trouble and suffering
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wound
a figurative injury (to your feelings or pride)
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type of:
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pain, painfulness
emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid
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the act of damaging something or someone
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impairment
damage that results in a reduction of strength or quality
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defacement, disfiguration, disfigurement
the act of damaging the appearance or surface of something
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wound, wounding
the act of inflicting a wound
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burn
damage inflicted by fire
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defloration
an act that despoils the innocence or beauty of something
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mutilation
the act of severely damaging or ruining something
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scald
the act of burning with steam or hot water
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type of:
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change of integrity
the act of changing the unity or wholeness of something
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suffering from physical injury especially that suffered in battle
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cause damage or affect negatively
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a damage or loss
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synonyms:
detriment
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types:
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expense
a detriment or sacrifice
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type of:
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damage, harm, impairment
the occurrence of a change for the worse
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expense
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damaged inanimate objects or their value
Pronunciation
US
/hərt/
UK
/hət/
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘hurt'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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