bruise
to injure by striking or pressing, without breaking the skin: The blow bruised his arm. Her pinching bruised the peaches.
to injure or hurt slightly, as with an insult or unkind remark: to bruise a person's feelings.
to crush (drugs or food) by beating or pounding.
Metalworking. to injure the surface of (an ingot or finished object) by collision.
to develop or bear a discolored spot on the skin as the result of a blow, fall, etc.
to become injured slightly: His feelings bruise easily.
an injury due to bruising; contusion.
Origin of bruise
1Other words from bruise
- un·bruised, adjective
Words that may be confused with bruise
- brews, bruise
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bruise in a sentence
It was the type of fall that should have resulted in bruises and maybe a sprained ankle.
I received many bruises on my collarbones, neck, chest, and shoulders.
Pictures of his bruises and cuts are also being shared extensively on social media and smartphones.
When the child returned home, his mother noticed he had considerable bruises on his body.
Adrian Peterson’s ‘Whooping’ and Ray Rice’s Knockout Are Both Domestic Violence | Robert Silverman | September 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSometimes talent leaves with giant bruises that take weeks to disappear.
James Franco Gets Kinky: Inside the BDSM Porn Documentary 'Kink' | Marlow Stern | August 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
She pointed hastily to some livid bruises upon her neck and arms, and continued with great rapidity.
Oliver Twist, Vol. II (of 3) | Charles DickensThere were also a good many other scars and bruises upon his body, for the cost of building a western railroad is usually heavy.
The Gold Trail | Harold BindlossIf you would escape Time's bruises and his heavy burdens which weigh you to the earth, you must be drunken.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile GautierI managed to lift it a bit to escape further bruises as my captor roughly hauled me to the forest.
A Virginia Scout | Hugh PendexterWelty had been taken in the night before, his bruises had been anointed, and he had been provisioned for the journey.
British Dictionary definitions for bruise
/ (bruːz) /
(also intr) to injure (tissues) without breaking the skin, usually with discoloration, or (of tissues) to be injured in this way
to offend or injure (someone's feelings) by an insult, unkindness, etc
to damage the surface of (something), as by a blow
to crush (food, etc) by pounding or pressing
a bodily injury without a break in the skin, usually with discoloration; contusion
Origin of bruise
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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