HURTS Synonyms: 252 Similar and Opposite Words

hurts 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of hurt

as in aches

to feel or cause physical pain my head hurts a bad sprain that really hurts I hurt all over

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as in damages

to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of don't worry that you'll hurt the new lawn by walking across it

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as in injures

to cause bodily damage to the common belief that reading in poor light hurts your eyes

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as in grieves

to feel deep sadness or mental pain I know you must be hurting from the cruel words they said

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hurts

2 of 2

noun

plural of hurt

as in pains

a state of great suffering of body or mind in her hurt she said a lot of things to her boyfriend that she didn't really mean

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in harms

something that causes loss or pain a totally baseless accusation that caused lasting hurt to his reputation

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hurts

Verb

Diluting the term for expats not only hurts them, but also does a disservice to both the concepts of culture fatigue and culture whiplash. — Liz Guthridge, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026 The Balkanization of global trade and finance hurts countries such as the United States that rely heavily on massive foreign inflows. — Kenneth S. Rogoff, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2026 Damaging public safety equipment ultimately hurts the very communities this technology is there to help protect. — Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026 Those competitors offer multi-user discounts, so LiveOne's omission of a family plan hurts it a bit more now that its individual rates have crept up. — Gabriel Zamora, PC Magazine, 28 July 2026 Some say moving a historic building from its original or longtime location hurts its integrity by removing it from its historic and physical context. — Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 23 July 2026 That flexibility helps when one partner needs to move money quickly and hurts when trust breaks down. — Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 22 July 2026 However, if squatting hurts, stop and seek help from a medical or movement professional. — Jenessa Connor, Health, 21 July 2026 But the captain also revealed, a few days on from the defeat to Argentina in Atlanta, how much Wednesday night still hurts the players. — Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 19 July 2026

Noun

Both the people who were hurt and the people who caused those hurts had some amount of evolution. — Michelle Tea, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2026 The wounds and humiliations of private life can rarely be redressed by law; literature offers a parallel tribunal in which those hurts are litigated and, if possible, imaginatively overcome. — Charlie Tyson, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2026 Modern play calling insists on going for it on fourth downs, particularly in the opponent’s territory, because converting on fourth down helps more than failing to convert on fourth down hurts. — Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2026 Work On Your Personal Relationships Work on your most significant personal relationship to shore up conflict, hurts and wounds, and turn it into one that is life-giving and energizing. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hurts

Verb

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of West Nile virus include fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash.

— Rashad Williams, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026
Common symptoms include fever, headaches, body aches, joint pain, rash, vomiting and diarrhea, according to the CDC.

— Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of aches

Verb

Nuisance, negligence and harm to residents The largest set of claims in the lawsuit has to do with arguing that the data center damages residents’ health, futures and quality of life in the areas closest to the 400-acre hyperscale AI factory.

— Ilana Arougheti Updated August 14, Kansas City Star, 14 Aug. 2026
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition in which consuming gluten — a protein found in wheat, barley and rye — triggers an immune response that damages the small intestine.

— Christina Dugan Ramirez, FOXNews.com, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of damages

Verb

The heist goes wrong when one sister injures her back and ends up trapped on the second floor, setting off an increasingly frantic bid to get out before the homeowner comes home.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026
Early on in the clip, Jake Johnson’s former tennis star Dusty Boyd trips over the net and injures his wrist in a bad way.

— Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 23 June 2026

Definition of injures

Noun

In your first trimester, exercises like bear crawls, side planks and bird dogs can reduce aches and pains later in pregnancy, like pelvic girdle pain, sometimes called lightning crotch.

— Andee Tagle, NPR, 15 Aug. 2026
Only one thing gave Ruiz the kind of consolation that was truly the obverse of his physical pains, and that was the sacred figure of the Virgin Mary.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of pains

Noun

The term refers to when tobacco companies in the 1990s were forced to pay billions of dollars for misleading the public about the safety and potential harms of their products, and subsequently saw their power and influence dramatically diminished.

— Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 18 Aug. 2026
Torrez said his office is also pursuing a second, separate case against Meta over data privacy and civic harms, with a trial expected to begin in September.

— Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of harms

Verb

Especially the guy who bangs a wrecking ball against the historic East Wing to make room for an incongruous ballroom monstrosity, who mars the sacred Oval Office with gold glitter and paves over the lovely Rose Garden.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 2026
Jacob Whitehead Homophobic chant mars Mexico’s win Before the World Cup, the Mexican football federation launched a campaign that featured the heroes of the country’s 1986 World Cup side.

— Jack Lang, New York Times, 26 June 2026

Definition of mars

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hurtling

hurts

hurts (for)

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Style

“Hurts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hurts. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of hurts

verb

noun

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