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
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
Josh Kendall, New York Times, 15 May 2026
Truncating the final season so drastically definitely hurts the first half of the series finale, which feels chaotic and rushed.
—ArsTechnica, 15 May 2026
Shi's view is that the SME segment is where that fragmentation hurts most.
—Boaz Sobrado, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Losing bats hurts local governments financially The story does not stop at the farm.
—Eli Fenichel, The Conversation, 14 May 2026
Losing hurts, guard Austin Reaves said after the game that night.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
But 24 goes too far, dilutes the field and hurts the regular season.
—Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 7 May 2026
Consider sharing this with a mom or mother figure in your life because a little extra sunshine never hurts!
—Ronnie Li, USA Today, 7 May 2026
Leftover hurts from earlier in the week might be percolating on the back burner.
—Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
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
Verb
Losing Evans, linebacker Lavonte David and cornerback Jamel Dean hurts, but the Bucs deserve the benefit of the doubt until someone else in this division proves something.
—Josh Kendall, New York Times, 15 May 2026
Truncating the final season so drastically definitely hurts the first half of the series finale, which feels chaotic and rushed.
—ArsTechnica, 15 May 2026
Shi's view is that the SME segment is where that fragmentation hurts most.
—Boaz Sobrado, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Losing bats hurts local governments financially The story does not stop at the farm.
—Eli Fenichel, The Conversation, 14 May 2026
Losing hurts, guard Austin Reaves said after the game that night.
—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
But 24 goes too far, dilutes the field and hurts the regular season.
—Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 7 May 2026
Consider sharing this with a mom or mother figure in your life because a little extra sunshine never hurts!
—Ronnie Li, USA Today, 7 May 2026
Leftover hurts from earlier in the week might be percolating on the back burner.
—Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 7 May 2026
Noun
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
-
In many ways, Kris aches to be reduced to such simple matter, to strip away all of her heady anxiety and surrender to basic want.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
13 May 2026
-
Early symptoms can include fatigue, fever and muscle aches.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
13 May 2026
Verb
-
Even one drink of alcohol damages the immune system, lowering its ability to battle invaders within 20 minutes of consumption.—
Sandee LaMotte,
CNN Money,
14 May 2026
-
Nebraska 2nd District The leading Democratic hopefuls in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District have been battling over whether one candidate's campaign damages the party's competitiveness in the area.—
Caitlin Yilek,
CBS News,
12 May 2026
Verb
-
This storyline later appeared in the second season of Girls, as Dunham’s character Hannah is overwhelmed with the anxiety of writing a novel and similarly injures herself.—
Caitlin Huston,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Apr. 2026
-
In her desperation to ask Val for a job on the new sitcom, Sharon falls and injures herself.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The Professor, with only her ex-partner’s cat for company, sits in her decaying apartment and grieves the loss of her relationship and her struggle with infertility.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 May 2026
-
The film follows a woman who grieves the loss of her mother by secretly attending the funerals of strangers.—
Brayden Garcia,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Ebola causes a hemorrhagic fever, with symptoms that start with fever, aches, pains and fatigue before progressing to diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding, according to the public health agency.—
Zachary Folk,
Forbes.com,
17 May 2026
-
But in the four years between the two terms, Xi had taken pains to ensure this tactic would no longer work, with export controls on rare earth metals that are indispensable to American arms manufacturers and carmakers.—
Rob Crilly,
The Washington Examiner,
15 May 2026
Noun
-
But guidelines seek to balance the benefits of catching cancer early with possible harms, such as stress and pain from investigating suspicious spots that don't turn out to be cancerous.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 May 2026
-
By providing nicotine to users without the harms from cigarette smoking, the pouches are now formally considered by the FDA to be a harm reduction aid for smokers who wish to quit and reduce exposure to toxic substances.—
Joshua P. Cohen,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
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
-
Pain that is not a word throbs in his shoulders, awakens him each morning.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
No sadness mars the purity of its paranoia.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2026
-
However, an earnestness mars most of the proceedings.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hurts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hurts. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
