as in aching
causing or feeling bodily pain
a badly hurting finger kept her from writing neatly
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in throbbing
to feel or cause physical pain
my head hurts a bad sprain that really hurts I hurt all over
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in damaging
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of
don't worry that you'll hurt the new lawn by walking across it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in injuring
to cause bodily damage to
the common belief that reading in poor light hurts your eyes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in grieving
to feel deep sadness or mental pain
I know you must be hurting from the cruel words they said
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 hurting
Alex Mayyasi, NPR, 9 Sep. 2025
Doctors spent several minutes resuscitating Luka before making the difficult decision to use a paralyzing agent to stop him from moving and potentially hurting himself.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Sep. 2025
Students who choose to put their image online face the possibility of hurting their job prospects or risk their reputation amongst their community.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Scorsese’s eyes go big and wide; hurting him, The Studio suggests, is like hurting a family member.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
Sometimes, these groups overlap with other violent networks, including those that traffic child pornography and target and exploit vulnerable minors into cutting or otherwise hurting themselves.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
How is there any way of doing it without hurting the other?
—Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 4 Sep. 2025
Many Jews were really hurting and society didn’t choose to see them or see their pain.
—Eitan Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
Kraft-Heinz, like all big food companies, is grappling with inflation-weary buyers cutting back spending or switching to generic labels and the rise of GLP-1 drugs hurting demand for snack food.
—Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
But reducing the supply of homes available for sale also pushed home prices up, hurting families on the cusp of homeownership.
—Alex Mayyasi, NPR, 9 Sep. 2025
Doctors spent several minutes resuscitating Luka before making the difficult decision to use a paralyzing agent to stop him from moving and potentially hurting himself.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Sep. 2025
Students who choose to put their image online face the possibility of hurting their job prospects or risk their reputation amongst their community.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 7 Sep. 2025
Scorsese’s eyes go big and wide; hurting him, The Studio suggests, is like hurting a family member.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
Sometimes, these groups overlap with other violent networks, including those that traffic child pornography and target and exploit vulnerable minors into cutting or otherwise hurting themselves.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
How is there any way of doing it without hurting the other?
—Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 4 Sep. 2025
Many Jews were really hurting and society didn’t choose to see them or see their pain.
—Eitan Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
Kraft-Heinz, like all big food companies, is grappling with inflation-weary buyers cutting back spending or switching to generic labels and the rise of GLP-1 drugs hurting demand for snack food.
—Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hurting
Adjective
-
In this aching, unorthodox historical drama, Davies tells the story of the pacifist poet and veteran Siegfried Sassoon, whose experiences fighting in the First World War forever transformed him.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Braxton shares an aching need to be vulnerable only to realize by album’s end that such unions can result in horrible betrayal, her words of lament surrounded by swelling, lush orchestration.—
Clarence A. Haynes
July 3,
Literary Hub,
3 July 2025
Verb
-
China has rejected the accusation and accused the Philippines of damaging the coral reef ecosystem in the waterway instead.—
Nectar Gan,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
-
To get a much clearer look at its fine details and avoid damaging the specimen, the research team used highly powerful synchrotron CT scans from facilities in France and the UK.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Colorado Springs club shooting A 22-year-old gunman entered an LGBTQ nightclub in November 2022 in Colorado Springs shortly before midnight and immediately opened fire, killing at least five people and injuring 25 others before patrons confronted and stopped him, police said.—
Ray Sanchez,
CNN Money,
11 Sep. 2025
-
The suspect was indicted by a federal grand jury in July and is also accused of shooting and injuring another state lawmaker and his wife earlier the same day.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA Today,
11 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The longtime pastor of Korumburra Baptist Church also thanked the prosecutors, medical staff, and members of the community who’d reached out to support his grieving family.—
Hilary Whiteman,
CNN Money,
8 Sep. 2025
-
In this sequel to The Ice Road that trades Canadian ice flats for cliff-edge drop-offs and hairpin passes, Neeson’s grieving character Mike McCann heads to the Himalayas to scatter his brother’s ashes.—
Travis Bean,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Now supposedly dying from some terminal illness, Julian has gone total hermit mode inside of his cluttered London apartment, where the walls are festooned with the relics of his success and the backrooms are a junk pile of painful memories.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
9 Sep. 2025
-
Dig a little deeper by comparing your top three financial goals and sharing your most painful and joyous money memories.—
Mary Clements Evans,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Boston comes in with three straight losses marring otherwise agreeable vibes.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
21 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
A student who authorities say opened fire at his Colorado high school, wounding two classmates and then turning the gun on himself, has died, according to the local sheriff's office.—
Alex Stone,
ABC News,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Police say Reed then opened fire in the parking lot, killing Jones, wounding a 23-year-old Dallas man and also shooting at off-duty officers who were working at the business.—
Shambhavi Rimal,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Donatella Versace, Milan’s mayor Giuseppe Sala and film directors Gabriele Salvatores and Giuseppe Tornatore were also among the crowds of people mourning.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Drake White and his wife are mourning the death of their baby daughter, who died minutes after being born.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hurting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hurting. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share