injure
- 01 B1 Intermediate
to hurt a person or animal physically, especially in an accident.
to cause physical harm or bodily damage to a living being, typically through an external force or accident.
Simple“He managed to injure his knee while playing football last weekend.”
In context“The blast was powerful enough to injure several bystanders who were standing across the street from the construction site.”
PitfallThe car accident injured to him. The car accident injured him.Injure is a transitive verb; it takes a direct object without a preposition.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to damage something that is not physical, like a reputation or a business.
to impair, damage, or negatively affect an abstract entity such as a reputation, career, or legal standing.
Simple“The scandal could seriously injure the company's reputation in the international market.”
In context“Legal experts argued that the new policy would unfairly injure the rights of small business owners in the region.”
A back-formation from injury, from Anglo-Norman injurie, from Latin iniūria (“injustice; wrong; offense”), from in- (“not”) + iūs, iūris (“right, law”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.