hurt

1 verb past tense and past participle hurt

1 (I, T) if a part of your body hurts, you feel pain in it: My back hurts. | it hurts: Where does it hurt? | hurt sb: My shoulder's really hurting me. | hurt like hell (=hurt very much)

2 (T) if you hurt part of your body you injure it or make it feel painful, especially in an accident: Several people were seriously hurt in the accident. | hurt your arm/leg/nose etc: I hurt my finger in the door | hurt yourself (=injure yourself): Careful you don't hurt yourself - it's very sharp.

3 (I, T) if something hurts part of your body, it makes it feel painful: The sun's hurting my eyes

4 (T) to cause physical pain to someone: Put that thing down - you might hurt someone with it.

5 (I, T) to make someone feel very upset, unhappy, sad etc: hurt sb's feelings: I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. | what hurts is that: What really hurts is that he never even said goodbye. | hurt sb: The last thing I want to do is to hurt you.

6 be hurting yourself to be making yourself feel even more unhappy, upset, sad, etc

7 (T) to have a bad effect on someone or something, especially by making them less successful or powerful: Foreign competition has definitely hurt the firm's position in the market.

8 be hurting

a) AmE informal to feel very upset, unhappy, sad etc

b) if a group, organization etc is hurting, they do not have something important that they need, for example money

(+ for): Our division in Salem is hurting for competent staff right now.

9 it won't/doesn't hurt (sb) to do sth spoken used to say that there is no reason why someone cannot or should not do something: It won't hurt Julia to get up early for once.

10 one more won't hurt spoken used to encourage someone to have another drink, piece of chocolate etc

—compare harm 2 2 adjective

1 (not usually before noun) physically injured: badly/seriously hurt: This man needs a doctor - he's badly hurt.

2 very upset or unhappy because someone has said or done something unkind, dishonest, or unfair: a hurt expression | deeply hurt: I was feeling deeply hurt by what she had just said.

3 noun (C, U) a feeling of great unhappiness because someone, especially someone you trust, has treated you unkindly or unfairly: the hurt caused by the breakup of his marriage —compare harm 1