# injure

Pronunciation: US say "IN-jur" /ˈɪn.d͡ʒɚ/; UK say "IN-juh" /ˈɪn.dʒə/

## Verb

1. To wound a person or animal, or otherwise cause physical harm to a living body.
   - Simple: To hurt a person or animal, causing harm to their body.
   - _Fireworks injure hundreds of people every year._
   - _He injured his shoulder lifting the heavy crate._
2. To cause damage to something or weaken how well it works.
   - Simple: To damage something or make it work less well.
   - _Prolonged exposure to noise can injure one's hearing._
   - _The drought severely injured the region's wheat harvest._
3. To act unjustly toward someone; to wrong them.
   - Simple: To treat someone in an unfair or wrong way.
   - _Critics argued the verdict injured an innocent man._
   - _You injure me when you question my loyalty._

## Origin

This is a back-formation from 'injury', which came through Anglo-Norman 'injurie' from Latin 'iniuria' (injustice, wrong, offense), formed from 'in-' (not) plus 'ius, iuris' (right, law).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/injure (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).