injure
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: verb/1
These verbs all describe causing harm, but they differ in what is affected and how. 'Hurt' is the most general and informal — it covers physical pain ('My back hurts'), emotional pain ('You hurt her feelings'), and can be intransitive. 'Injure' is more specific to bodily damage from accidents or violence ('He injured his knee playing football'); it is always transitive and rarely used for emotional pain outside formal contexts. 'Wound' implies a breaking of the skin or tissue, often by a weapon, and carries a sense of intentional violence ('The soldier was wounded in battle'); its figurative use is much stronger than 'injure' ('His words wounded her deeply'). 'Harm' is the broadest — it covers any lasting damage, visible or not, to a person, animal, organization, or the environment ('Smoking harms your health'). 'Damage' is used for objects and abstract qualities ('The storm damaged the roof', 'The scandal damaged his reputation') — using 'damage' for a person sounds dehumanising. For a learner: say 'hurt' for everyday minor pain, 'injure' for medical/accident contexts, 'wound' for violent injury with a weapon, 'harm' for long-term effects, and 'damage' for things, not people.
Common collocations
Etymology
Comes from Latin 'iniuriare' (to wrong, to treat unjustly), from 'iniuria' (injustice, injury), a combination of 'in-' (not) and 'ius' (right, law). The word entered English through Anglo-French 'injurer' in the 1400s. Originally it meant to do something wrong or unjust to someone; the physical 'hurt' sense grew stronger in the 1600s and eventually became the dominant meaning.