1
as in aches
to feel or cause physical pain
my head hurts a bad sprain that really hurts I hurt all over
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in injures
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 grieves
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
1
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in harms
something that causes loss or pain
a totally baseless accusation that caused lasting hurt to his reputation
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hurts
J.j. Bailey, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2026
Advertisement Love Story, like so many Murphy projects, is too focused on revising historical narratives to care about crafting complex characters, much less about who its flattening hurts.
—Judy Berman, Time, 6 Mar. 2026
Anything that makes the overall product less attractive hurts all the schools.
—Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 5 Mar. 2026
Losing the MacBook Air's three-digit $999 starting price hurts a lot, but Apple offset that in the 2026 Airs with a legitimate storage upgrade and faster Wi-Fi, in addition to the new processor.
—Joe Osborne, PC Magazine, 4 Mar. 2026
And if prices stay elevated long enough, that can eventually push consumers to rein in spending, which hurts global growth.
—Allie Canal, NBC news, 4 Mar. 2026
Banning trans players hurts everyone in the sport and the larger community.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 4 Mar. 2026
What hurts Simpson outside of that rough six-game stretch is his limited body of work.
—Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 2 Mar. 2026
Okay, that last one hurts, especially knowing how much Violet likes Sophie already.
—Christina Grace Tucker, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2026
Being rejected hurts, and finding success may not erase the emotional residue of all those prior rebuffs.
—Anna Holmes, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 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
Verb
In addition to the personal toll, playing overseas also hurts players professionally by limiting their ability to sign endorsement deals.
—J.j. Bailey, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2026
Advertisement Love Story, like so many Murphy projects, is too focused on revising historical narratives to care about crafting complex characters, much less about who its flattening hurts.
—Judy Berman, Time, 6 Mar. 2026
Anything that makes the overall product less attractive hurts all the schools.
—Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 5 Mar. 2026
Losing the MacBook Air's three-digit $999 starting price hurts a lot, but Apple offset that in the 2026 Airs with a legitimate storage upgrade and faster Wi-Fi, in addition to the new processor.
—Joe Osborne, PC Magazine, 4 Mar. 2026
And if prices stay elevated long enough, that can eventually push consumers to rein in spending, which hurts global growth.
—Allie Canal, NBC news, 4 Mar. 2026
Banning trans players hurts everyone in the sport and the larger community.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 4 Mar. 2026
What hurts Simpson outside of that rough six-game stretch is his limited body of work.
—Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 2 Mar. 2026
Okay, that last one hurts, especially knowing how much Violet likes Sophie already.
—Christina Grace Tucker, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
Noun
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
Being rejected hurts, and finding success may not erase the emotional residue of all those prior rebuffs.
—Anna Holmes, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 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
-
Others include fever and head or body aches.—
Jasmine Mendez
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Patients can also experience fever, headaches and body aches.—
Kelly McCarthy,
ABC News,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Paralytic polio occurs when the virus damages motor neurons that control muscles.—
Katia Hetter,
CNN Money,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Tornado damages Tulsa homes, school campus The damage from the Friday, March 6, storms extended across wide swaths of eastern Oklahoma, including north Tulsa.—
Richard Mize,
Oklahoman,
7 Mar. 2026
Verb
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When Don injures his hand, Blue (Hunter McVey) is forced to step into the competition for him.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
26 Feb. 2026
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Bystander videos, like the ones taken of Pretti, have played a key role for decades in informing the public when law enforcement kills or injures people.—
Ava Berger,
NPR,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
One voicemail playback message on a phone number associated with a Martin family member asked for privacy while the family grieves.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
1 Mar. 2026
-
As the Sugar Bowl Academy grieves following Tuesday's deadly avalanche north of California's Lake Tahoe, the news is also hitting people hard in the Bay Area's Marin County.—
Andrea Nakano,
CBS News,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
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That’s why civil servants in national security, disaster relief and federal science have long taken pains to avoid the political fray.—
Michael Chertoff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 Mar. 2026
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Because the somewhat complex antitrust case is being tried before a 12-person jury, each party took pains to lay out the process, and provide visual explainers, about how an artist works with promoters and others to book a tour, and who profits.—
Caitlin Huston,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
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However, as the environment around Earth becomes more crowded, the risks, the harms, and the potential for disaster all grow evermore severe, with woefully insufficient (or, sometimes, no) mitigation measures in place.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
7 Mar. 2026
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Christopher Anderson, the Department of Justice lawyer representing the EPA, argued that while the agency does discount future effects in weighing regulations, that practice is not discriminatory and any link to resulting climate harms is speculative.—
Blanca Begert,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Mar. 2026
Verb
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My boredom typically spurs feelings of frustration, guilt, shame—and long nutritionless spells of goggling, slack-jawed, at celebrity news on my phone while the world throbs around me.—
Daniel Smith,
The Atlantic,
27 Feb. 2026
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Pain that is not a word throbs in his shoulders, awakens him each morning.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The picture exudes both grace and vulnerability, and hints at imperfection by way of a disconcerting, coral-like wrinkle that mars the foot’s heel.—
Chris Wiley,
New Yorker,
20 Dec. 2025
-
Deadly holiday weekend mars broad crime drop The back-and-forth followed a Labor Day weekend of deadly violence in Chicago worse than in the previous two years, with seven people shot to death, according to preliminary Chicago Police Department reports.—
Andy Rose,
CNN Money,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hurts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hurts. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
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