noun

wound

WOOND

noun

An injury where the skin is cut, pierced, or torn.

"The nurse cleaned the wound before bandaging it."

"His war wound still ached in cold weather."

A hurt to someone's feelings or reputation.

"The betrayal left a wound that never fully healed."

verb

To injure someone by cutting, piercing, or tearing the skin.

"The soldier was wounded in the leg."

To hurt someone's feelings.

"His harsh comment wounded her pride."

How to Use Wound

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA physical injury, or an emotional hurt; also the verb form of causing either.

Common mistake

Note this "wound" (rhymes with "swooned") is a different word from the past tense of "wind" (rhymes with "found") — same spelling, unrelated meaning.

Common pairings

open wound wounded pride inflict a wound

Word Forms

wounded past tense, wounds plural, wound plural, wounded plural, wounds singular, wound singular, wounded singular, woundest singular, woundedst singular, woundeth singular

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Can you complete this real example?

The nurse cleaned the _____ before bandaging it.

Etymology

From Old English wund (noun) and wundian (verb), both from a common Germanic root.

Rhymes for wound

pound sound bound found round hound mound abound ground around rebound impound

See all rhymes for wound →