What does injuring mean?
“Injuring” means causing physical harm, damage, or impairment to someone or something. It is the present-participle form of the verb “injure” and is used in continuous constructions, as in “he is injuring the grass,” or as a gerund, as in “the risks of injuring a worker.” The term occurs especially in legal, medical, safety, and formal contexts, where it identifies an act that causes bodily injury or damage. Compared with the broader “hurting,” “injuring” suggests a more definite or consequential form of harm, including physical injury to a person or damage to an object. The related noun “injury” and adjective “injurious” share the same Latin foundation, in which the concept began with wrongdoing or injustice rather than merely an unfortunate accident.
verbCausing physical harm, damage, or impairment to someone or something.
- To cause physical harm, damage, or impairment to a person, animal, or object.
"The driver was charged with injuring a pedestrian while making an illegal turn."
"Careless handling can injure both the operator and the equipment."
"The report concluded that the material was too fragile to use without injuring the specimens."
The word “injury” comes from a Latin word meaning injustice: harm to someone was originally conceived as wrongdoing against them.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does injuring come from?
The verbal family derives from Old French “injure,” meaning harm or wrong, which came from Latin “injuria,” a term for injustice or legal wrong. Latin “injuria” was formed from the prefix “in-” and “ius” or “jus,” meaning right or law. The modern forms “injure,” “injury,” and “injurious” developed through Middle English and later usage from this same legal and moral concept of wrong or harm.
Related word forms
How injuring is actually used
“Injuring” is an inflected form of “injure,” used as either a present participle in continuous constructions or a gerund. It is more specific than the general “hurting” and often suggests damage to a person, especially in legal, medical, or formal contexts.
Easily confused with injuring
Injuring means causing harm, whereas enduring means suffering or tolerating something difficult.