Meaning & use
wound
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Meanings
nouncountable
Damage to the body where the skin or flesh has been cut, torn or pierced, often by a weapon or accident.
Grammar: Pronounced /wuːnd/ (like 'moon'), not like the past of wind: a deep wound.
Patterns
- a wound to something
- a wound from something
The nurse cleaned the wound on his knee and covered it with a bandage.
The soldier recovered slowly from a bullet wound.
A deep wound needs stitches to heal properly.
nouncountablefigurative
A lasting emotional hurt caused by a harsh event, insult or loss.
Grammar: Used figuratively and often with an adjective: an old wound; emotional wounds.
Patterns
- open an old wound
- heal a wound
Mentioning her late husband reopened an old wound.
The betrayal left a wound that took years to heal.
Time heals many emotional wounds, but not all.
verbtransitive
To injure someone by damaging their body, or to hurt their feelings deeply.
Grammar: Takes an object, pronounced /wuːnd/: the remark wounded her. Do not confuse with 'wound' as the past of wind (/waʊnd/).
Patterns
- wound someone
- be wounded in something
Three soldiers were wounded in the attack.
His careless comment wounded her pride.
The hunter had only wounded the deer.
Word forms
| plural | wounds |
|---|---|
| third person singular | wounds |
| past tense | wounded |
| past participle | wounded |
| -ing form | wounding |
Common combinations
- bullet wound
- He survived a bullet wound to the shoulder.
- clean a wound
- Always clean a wound before bandaging it.
- heal a wound
- The cut took two weeks to heal.
- open an old wound
- Talking about the war opened an old wound.
- deep wound
- The knife left a deep wound.
- emotional wounds
- Therapy helped him face his emotional wounds.
Synonyms and how they differ
- injury
- Injury is the general word for any harm to the body, while a wound usually involves a break in the skin.
- cut
- A cut is a small, clean break in the skin, while a wound sounds more serious.
- gash
- A gash is a long, deep cut, so it is more specific than wound.
- trauma
- Trauma means serious physical or psychological damage, and in everyday use it stresses emotional shock more than a visible injury.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: wound or wound (past of wind)?
wound vs wound (past of wind)
As the past tense of wind (to coil), wound rhymes with 'round' (/waʊnd/), as in she wound the clock. The injury word rhymes with 'moon'.
Practice
Which sentence uses wound in the same way as in 'a deep wound on his arm'?
Choose one answer.
Only the nurse sentence uses wound to mean an injury (pronounced like 'moon'). In the others, wound is the past of wind (pronounced like 'round') and means turned or coiled.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wound”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.