as in damages
to reduce the soundness, effectiveness, or perfection of
already impaired by a crack, the windshield shattered upon impact with the baseball
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Recent Examples of impairs
If rain severely impairs your vision, pull over and wait for conditions to improve.
—
Southern California Weather Report, Daily News, 11 Feb. 2026
Long before neuroscience confirmed it, the sages understood that sustained outrage narrows perception, impairs judgment, and corrodes community.
—Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Sun Sentinel, 10 Feb. 2026
Excess glucose also impairs our brain's functioning.
—Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 29 Jan. 2026
On the other hand, chronic sleep deprivation impairs attention, disrupts decision-making and alters the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.
—Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, The Conversation, 23 Jan. 2026
Russia’s second front The most dangerous front in Europe this year will shift from the trenches in Donetsk to the hybrid war between Russia and NATO as Vladimir Putin seeks to erode European support for Ukraine before economic strain impairs his ability to prosecute the hot war.
—Ian Bremmer, Time, 6 Jan. 2026
If rain severely impairs your vision, pull over and wait for conditions to improve.
—Bay Area Weather Report, Mercury News, 5 Jan. 2026
Cerebral palsy is a permanent neurological condition that impairs a person’s ability to control body movement and maintain muscle coordination.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
Key Takeaways Short-term, alcohol slows brain processing, triggers the reward system, reduces stress and pain, impairs spatial thinking, and can cause memory lapses or blackouts.
—Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 6 Nov. 2025
Southern California Weather Report, Daily News, 11 Feb. 2026
Long before neuroscience confirmed it, the sages understood that sustained outrage narrows perception, impairs judgment, and corrodes community.
—Rabbi Bruce D. Forman, Sun Sentinel, 10 Feb. 2026
Excess glucose also impairs our brain's functioning.
—Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 29 Jan. 2026
On the other hand, chronic sleep deprivation impairs attention, disrupts decision-making and alters the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.
—Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, The Conversation, 23 Jan. 2026
Russia’s second front The most dangerous front in Europe this year will shift from the trenches in Donetsk to the hybrid war between Russia and NATO as Vladimir Putin seeks to erode European support for Ukraine before economic strain impairs his ability to prosecute the hot war.
—Ian Bremmer, Time, 6 Jan. 2026
If rain severely impairs your vision, pull over and wait for conditions to improve.
—Bay Area Weather Report, Mercury News, 5 Jan. 2026
Cerebral palsy is a permanent neurological condition that impairs a person’s ability to control body movement and maintain muscle coordination.
—Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 31 Dec. 2025
Key Takeaways Short-term, alcohol slows brain processing, triggers the reward system, reduces stress and pain, impairs spatial thinking, and can cause memory lapses or blackouts.
—Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 6 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impairs
Verb
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The meatpacking giant also charges workers when someone takes or damages their personal protective equipment and insists on a three-year agreement, the union said.—
Sam Tabachnik,
Denver Post,
5 Feb. 2026
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To explore that possibility, researchers at University College London and Queen Square Analytics set out to look beyond symptoms and clinical labels and focus instead on the biological signals of how MS damages the brain.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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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
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California law already criminalizes unsafe gun storage in certain situations, including when a child accesses a firearm and injures or kills someone.—
Grant Stringer,
Mercury News,
29 Dec. 2025
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
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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
Verb
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When the vortex weakens, that tight circle becomes wavier, akin to how a slow-moving river tends to meander in bends across the landscape, Swain says.—
Andrea Thompson,
Scientific American,
9 Feb. 2026
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In contrast to conventional recycling, which weakens fibers and limits how they can be reused, Uplift360’s non-degenerative method produces material that can go straight back into high-performance supply chains.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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These pressures could produce a tsunami that fractures the state’s fiscal foundation, self-inflicts a crisis ultimately demanding drastic cuts, and cripples its competitiveness.—
Andrew Rein,
New York Daily News,
6 Jan. 2026
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Scarface and friends attack the lab, and break out the kryptonite that cripples El and Kali.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Confusion emerges as trust erodes Some have applauded the moves.—
Ali Swenson,
Chicago Tribune,
12 Feb. 2026
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One gets the sense of a man perpetually drawn to the edge of the unknown, as the boy to the edge of the sea—to questions about our primordial origins, about the etiology and eschatology of our planet, about what erodes and what endures.—
Kathryn Schulz,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Sure, flashing a championship ring on a recruiting trip never hurts.—
Thomas Jones,
Austin American Statesman,
5 Feb. 2026
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Trade alternatives Multiple free agent options at first base surely hurts the trade market for Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and Rays first baseman Yandy Díaz (Mountcastle, in particular, seems to have very little role to play in Baltimore at this point).—
Chad Jennings,
New York Times,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Prepared Frozen Foods Dumplings and gyoza are typically flash-frozen after shaping and should be cooked straight from frozen; thawing softens the wrappers and compromises texture.—
Anne Wolf,
Martha Stewart,
8 Feb. 2026
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Moreover, such rapid decay of institutions compromises, to varying degrees, all those who find themselves within them.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impairs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impairs. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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