injure

injure, harm, hurt, damage, impair, mar, spoil all mean to affect someone or something so as to rob it of soundness, strength, or perfection or to reduce its value, usefulness, or effectiveness.

Injure in its earliest and still frequent sense means to do an injustice to or to wrong another (as by robbing him of his good name or of a rightful possession); in this sense it often suggests intent or knowledge on the part of one that injures

{

when have I injured thee? when done thee wrong?— Shak.

}

{

another injured burgher speaking of their forfeited rights— Cloete

}

The verb may also imply the infliction not of injustice but of something detrimental to one's appearance, health, success, or comfort

{

a bullet injured his eye

}

{

industrialism has been very injurious to art; may it not have injured religion also?— Inge

}

{

has to withhold information the release of which might injure the national security— Mott

}

Harm is more specific than injure in stressing the infliction of pain, suffering, or loss

{

the boy is so gentle that he would not harm a fly

}

{

the circulation of the rumor greatly harmed his business

}

{

for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth— Shak.

}

{

bitterness among the elders must not be permitted to harm or wound the innocent children of either race— Beverly Smith

}

{

every time any one of us . . . fails to make the fullest possible contribution to . . .justice, he harms himself spiritually— A tlantic

}

Hurt usually implies the infliction of a wound whether to the body or feelings or to a thing capable of sustaining an injury; often, it is used where injure is also possible

{

he was severely hurt by a falling brick

}

{

hurt a friend's feelings

}

{

it's damnable to have to hurt the people we love— Rose Macaulay

}

{

a limitless desire to hurt and humiliate— H. G. Wells

}

Damage implies an injury that results in lowered value or involves loss in effectiveness, attractiveness, or efficiency

{

his automobile was damaged in a collision

}

{

the frost damaged the late crops

}

{

what- ever psychoanalysts may say, the parental instinct is essentially different from the sex instinct, and is damaged by the intrusion of emotions appropriate to sex— Russell

}

{

like Hemingway, he was permanently damaged and therefore permanently inspired by wax— Morton

}

Impair, though coming close to damage in its meaning and often interchangeable with it, more frequently suggests deterioration or diminution (as in value, strength, or validity)

{

a weak piece of evidence often impairs the strength of a good argument

}

{

his value as a candidate has been impaired by his hysterical attacks on his opponent

}

or a weakening (as of a function or power of functioning)

{

his eye was injured and his vision impaired

}

{

kindness that left an impression on my heart not yet impaired— De Quinceyy

}

{

his physical prowess of all sorts is in no way impaired by heavy drinking and smoking, of course— Christopher La Farge

}

Mar implies the infliction of an injury that disfigures or maims or involves the loss of a thing's perfection or well-being

{

striving to better, oft we mar what's well— Shak.

}

{

Plato asserts that a life of drudgery disfigures the body and mars and enervates the soul— Dickinson

}

{

too good a book to be marred by small defects— R. A. Smith

}

{

all these gifts and qualities . . . were marred by prodigious faults— Woolf

}

Spoil (see also DECAY, INDULGE) carries a stronger implication of ruin than mar and suggests the operation of something that not only induces the impairment of strength, vigor, or value but also brings about their inevitable destruction

{

bitter shame hath spoiled the sweet world's taste— Shak.

}

{

a man who had spoiled his constitution with bad living— Shaw

}

{

when a child persistently interferes with other children or spoils their pleasures, the obvious punishment is banishment— Russell

}

{

a great novel spoiled by hasty (and lazy) composition— Laski

}

Analogous words: *deface, disfigure: *deform, distort, contort: *afflict, torture, torment: *maim, cripple, mutilate, mangle, batter: *abuse, ill-treat, maltreat, outrage, mistreat, misuse

Antonyms: aid

Contrasted words: *help, assist: *benefit, profit, avail: preserve, conserve, *save