wound

Other forms: wounded; wounds; wounding; woundingly; woundedly

A wound is a serious injury, especially a deep cut through the skin. But things like pride and feelings can also get wounded.

Wounds are serious: we're talking a lot worse than just a scrape or booboo. Just about all the meanings of this word have to do with being hurt. If you got stabbed, you got a stab wound. Soldiers in battle get a lot of wounds from enemies. If someone told you to shut up, they might wound your feelings. If you slipped in a puddle in front of your friends, that might wound your pride.

Definitions of wound

1. noun

   an injury to living tissue (especially an injury involving a cut or break in the skin)
   synonyms: lesion

   types:

   raw wound

   a wound that exposes subcutaneous tissue

   stigmata

   marks resembling the wounds on the crucified body of Christ

   abrasion, excoriation, scrape, scratch

   an abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off

   cut, gash, slash, slice

   a wound made by cutting

   laceration

   a torn ragged wound

   bite

   a wound resulting from biting by an animal or a person

   graze

   a superficial abrasion

   rope burn

   abrasion (usually on the hands) caused by friction from a rope

   dog bite

   a bite inflicted by a dog

   snakebite

   a bite inflicted by a (venomous) snake

   type of:

   harm, hurt, injury, trauma

   any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.
2. noun

   the act of inflicting a wound
   synonyms: wounding

   type of:

   damage, harm, hurt, scathe

   the act of damaging something or someone
3. noun

   a casualty to military personnel resulting from combat
   synonyms: combat injury, injury

   types:

   blighty wound

   a wound that would cause an English soldier to be sent home from service abroad

   flesh wound

   a wound that does not damage important internal organs or shatter any bones

   type of:

   loss, personnel casualty

   military personnel lost by death or capture
4. noun

   a figurative injury (to your feelings or pride)
   “he feared that mentioning it might reopen the wound”

   “"The right reader of a good poem can tell the moment it strikes him that he has taken an immortal wound--that he will never get over it"--Robert Frost”

   type of:

   distress, hurt, suffering

   psychological suffering
5. verb

   cause injuries or bodily harm to
   synonyms: injure

   types:

   trample

   injure by trampling or as if by trampling

   concuss

   injure the brain; sustain a concussion

   calk

   injure with a calk

   excruciate, torment, torture

   subject to torture

   overstretch, pull

   strain abnormally

   shock, traumatise, traumatize

   inflict a trauma upon

   maim

   injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation

   rick, sprain, turn, twist, wrench, wrick

   twist suddenly so as to sprain

   subluxate

   sprain or dislocate slightly

   disable, handicap, incapacitate, invalid

   injure permanently

   harm

   cause or do harm to

   run down, run over

   injure or kill by running over, as with a vehicle

   break, fracture

   fracture a bone of

   hit, pip, shoot

   hit with a missile from a weapon

   knife, stab

   use a knife on

   scrape, skin

   bruise, cut, or injure the skin or the surface of

   bruise, contuse

   injure the underlying soft tissue or bone of

   graze

   break the skin (of a body part) by scraping

   mace

   spray with a liquid that irritates the eyes and temporarily disables a person

   rack

   torture on the rack

   martyr, martyrise, martyrize

   torture and torment like a martyr

   sicken

   make sick or ill

   mar, mutilate

   destroy or injure severely

   cripple, lame

   deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg

   hock

   disable by cutting the hock

   gun down

   strike down or shoot down

   grass

   shoot down, of birds

   kneecap

   shoot in the kneecap, often done by terrorist groups as a warning

   poniard

   stab with a poniard

   bayonet

   stab or kill someone with a bayonet

   crush, jam

   crush or bruise

   type of:

   hurt

   give trouble or pain to
6. verb

   hurt the feelings of
   synonyms: bruise, hurt, injure, offend, spite

   types:

   affront, diss, insult

   treat, mention, or speak to rudely

   lacerate

   deeply hurt the feelings of; distress

   sting

   cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging

   abase, chagrin, humble, humiliate, mortify

   cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of

   crush, demolish, smash

   humiliate or depress completely

   degrade, demean, disgrace, put down, take down

   reduce in worth or character, usually verbally

   type of:

   arouse, elicit, enkindle, evoke, fire, kindle, pique, provoke, raise

   call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)