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Hurt vs Insult - What's the difference?

hurt | insult |

In lang=en terms the difference between hurt and insult

is that hurt is to undermine, impede, or damage while insult is to offend (someone) by being rude, insensitive or insolent; to demean or affront (someone).

As verbs the difference between hurt and insult

is that hurt is to be painful while insult is (obsolete|intransitive) to behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against).

As nouns the difference between hurt and insult

is that hurt is an emotional or psychological hurt (humiliation or bad experience) while insult is an action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude.

As an adjective hurt

is wounded, physically injured.

hurt

English

Verb

  • To be painful.
  • Does your leg still hurt ? / It is starting to feel better.
  • To cause (a creature) physical pain and/or injury.
  • If anybody hurts my little brother I will get upset.
  • To cause (somebody) emotional pain.
  • To undermine, impede, or damage.
  • This latest gaffe hurts the MP's reelection prospects still further.

    Synonyms

    * wound, injure

    Derived terms

    * wouldn't hurt a fly

    See also

    * (l)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Wounded, physically injured.
  • Pained.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • An emotional or psychological hurt (humiliation or bad experience)
  • * How to overcome old hurts of the past
  • (archaic) A bodily injury causing pain; a wound or bruise.
  • * 1605 , Shakespeare, King Lear vii
  • I have received a hurt .
  • * John Locke
  • The pains of sickness and hurts all men feel.
  • (archaic) injury; damage; detriment; harm
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou dost me yet but little hurt .
  • (heraldiccharge) A roundel azure (blue circular spot).
  • (engineering) A band on a trip-hammer helve, bearing the trunnions.
  • A husk.
  • References

    insult

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against).
  • *, II.3.3:
  • thou hast lost all, poor thou art, dejected, in pain of body, grief of mind, thine enemies insult over thee, thou art as bad as Job […].
  • To offend (someone) by being rude, insensitive or insolent; to demean or affront (someone).
  • (obsolete) To leap or trample upon; to make a sudden onset upon.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * (to offend) abuse, affront, offend, slight * See also

    Antonyms

    *compliment

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude.
  • * Savage
  • the ruthless sneer that insult adds to grief
  • * 1987 , Jamie Lee Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda :
  • To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!
  • Anything that causes offence/offense, e.g. by being of an unacceptable quality.
  • The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.
  • (medicine) Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes.
  • * 2006 , Stephen G. Lomber, Jos J. Eggermont, Reprogramming the Cerebral Cortex (page 415)
  • * 2011 , Terence Allen and Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford 2011, p. 96:
  • Within the complex genome of most organisms there are alternative multiple pathways of proteins which can help the individual cell survive a variety of insults , for example radiation, toxic chemicals, heat, excessive or reduced oxygen.
  • (obsolete) The act of leaping on; onset; attack.
  • (Dryden)

    Synonyms

    * (deliberatedly intended to be rude) abuse (uncountable), affront, offence (UK)/offense (US), pejorative, slam, slight, slur * (thing causing offence by being of unacceptable quality) disgrace, outrage * See also

    Antonyms

    *compliment

    Anagrams

    * * English heteronyms