VocabauraVOCABAURA

wound

verb · noun

Simple meaning

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

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wownd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwaʊnd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

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

  2. transitive

    To hurt (a person's feelings).

noun

  1. An injury, such as a cut, stab, or tear, to a (usually external) part of the body.

  2. A figurative injury (to your feelings or pride)

    “He feared that mentioning it might reopen the wound.”

  3. figuratively

    A hurt to a person's feelings, reputation, prospects, etc.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To hurt or injure (someone) by cutting, piercing, or tearing the skin.

Used this way, wound is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use wound

  • “He feared that mentioning it might reopen the wound.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “wound”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

wound healinggunshot woundwound roundwound infectionwound throughbullet wound

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • woundednounInflected form

    People who are wounded.

  • woundingnounInflected form

    The act of inflicting a wound.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • wound tumor virusnounCompound term

    A tumor virus transmitted by leafhoppers.

  • flesh woundnounCompound term

    A wound that does not damage important internal organs or shatter any bones.

  • raw woundnounCompound term

    A wound that exposes subcutaneous tissue.

  • blighty woundnounCompound term

    A wound that would cause an English soldier to be sent home from service abroad.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to hurt or injure (someone) by cutting or piercing

lesion

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “wound” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.