Picking a hurt synonym starts with one question: is the pain in a body, in someone's feelings, or in a plan that went badly? For bodies, injure and wound are the usual swaps. For feelings, upset, sting and offend work. For results, try harm or damage.
Hurt is also an adjective (she looked hurt) and a noun (old hurts). Whatever job your sentence needs, another word for hurt waits for it further down, with notes on how strong each choice sounds and which swaps twist what you meant. Browse more mood vocabulary in our guide to feeling words.
Swatch at a glance
Best swaps
injure, harm, upset, wound, achePart of speech
Verb, adjective and nounMost formal
impair, aggrieved, distressMost casual
bang up, kill (my feet are killing me)Strongest
devastate, maim, crushAntonyms
heal, soothe, comfort, unharmedWatch out
Injure needs a body. You can injure a knee, but you hurt someone's feelings, not injure them.Word forms covered
hurts, hurting, hurtful, hurt (past)
Each hurt synonym sorted by what gets hurt
The verb does four separate jobs. Sort your sentence into one of them before you swap.
| What is hurt | Swap with | Sample line |
|---|---|---|
| A body part, by an accident | injure, sprain, bruise, strain | He sprained his wrist at practice. |
| A body part, by itself | ache, throb, sting, be sore | My back aches after the long drive. |
| A person's feelings | upset, wound, offend, sting | Her silence stung more than his words. |
| A chance, a business, a reputation | harm, damage, set back, undermine | The rumor damaged the shop's name. |
Rating the intensity, sting to devastate
Our color strip starts at a quick sting and ends at real devastation. Sting is short and sharp, the kind of comment you forget by dinner. Upset lasts longer and is neutral. Injure means actual harm to a body, usually from an accident. Wound is deeper, used for both cuts and cruel words. Devastate sits at the far end: a loss or betrayal that knocks someone flat.
Body words have their own ladder: a twinge, then an ache, then throbbing pain, then agony. For the noun side of this, see pain synonyms.
Before and after: swapping hurt in sentences
- She hurt her ankle on the stairs becomes she twisted her ankle on the stairs.
- Two workers were hurt in the fire becomes two workers were injured in the fire.
- His joke hurt me becomes his joke stung.
- Late payments will hurt your credit score becomes late payments will damage your credit score.
- My head hurts becomes my head is pounding.
- I didn't mean to hurt you becomes I never meant to upset you.
- The delay hurt our sales becomes the delay set back our sales.
A text after an argument: "What you said really hurt." A calmer version: "What you said upset me, and I want to talk about it." Upset names the feeling without sounding like an accusation, which makes a reply easier.
Hurt as an adjective and a noun
As an adjective, hurt usually describes feelings: a hurt look, she felt hurt. Good replacements are wounded, offended, stung, crushed and the formal aggrieved. For bodies, choose injured or sore: an injured player, sore legs.
As a noun, hurt means emotional pain that lingers. Swap it with pain, grief, heartache or distress. You might write "years of hurt" in a personal essay, or "years of heartache" if you want it softer and more poetic. The sadness synonyms page has more in this family.
Synonyms for hurting and hurtful
Hurting as a feeling ("I'm still hurting") can become I'm still struggling, still grieving or still in pain. In money talk, "the business is hurting" means it is struggling or short of cash.
Hurtful describes words or acts that cause pain: unkind, cruel, cutting, spiteful, wounding. Cutting suits a sharp remark, cruel suits behavior that seems deliberate, and unkind is the gentlest choice for feedback about someone else's tone.
Swaps that go wrong
- Injure feelings sounds stiff and odd. Keep injure for bodies.
- Offend means the person felt disrespected, not just sad. A rude joke offends, a goodbye does not.
- Harm is broad and cold. "He harmed her" can read as physical violence, so use upset if you mean feelings.
- Ache has no object. You cannot ache someone, only feel an ache.
In casual speech, "my feet are killing me" means they hurt a lot. Fine among friends, too slangy for a lab write-up.
Opposites: words that undo the hurt
For the verb, the opposite of hurt is heal (for bodies), soothe or comfort (for feelings), and help or benefit (for results). For the adjective, unhurt, unharmed and uninjured are the safe choices.
- The passengers walked away unharmed.
- A warm note can soothe a bruised friendship.
- Good reviews will help the launch.
Gentler options sit on the comfort synonyms page.
Frequently asked questions
Which words describe hurt feelings?
Upset, wounded, stung and offended all work. Stung suits a sudden comment, wounded suits something deeper, and offended means you felt disrespected.
How can hurt be said more formally?
Injure is the formal verb for physical harm, as in a news report. For effects on plans or results, impair and undermine are formal. Aggrieved is a formal adjective for someone who feels wronged.
Which words sound more intense than hurt?
Devastate and crush are stronger for feelings. For the body, maim or badly injure describe serious damage, and agony is the strong word for the pain itself.
Can I use harm instead of hurt?
Yes when you mean damage to a person, group or result: smoking harms your lungs. It sounds cold for feelings, so prefer upset or hurt in personal messages.
What is the opposite of hurt?
Heal, help, soothe and comfort are opposites of the verb. Unhurt and unharmed are opposites of the adjective.
Is hurted a word?
No. Hurt stays the same in every tense: today it hurts, yesterday it hurt, it has hurt for a week.