in ‧ ju ‧ ry S3 W2 AC /ˈɪndʒəri/ BrE AmE noun ( plural injuries )
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ injury , the injured; adjective : ↑ injured ≠ UNINJURED , ↑ injurious ; verb : ↑ injure ]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: injuria , from jus 'right, law' ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] a wound or damage to part of your body caused by an accident or attack:
She was taken to hospital with serious head injuries.
injury to
The driver of the truck suffered injuries to his legs and arms.
Beckham has missed several games through injury (=because of injury) .
He’s a lawyer who specializes in personal injury claims.
2 . [uncountable] law damage to someone’s ↑ reputation , ↑ career , or feelings
injury to
He says that the allegations caused serious injury to his reputation.
⇨ add insult to injury at ↑ add (8)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + injury
▪ serious
The injury wasn’t serious.
▪ terrible (=very bad)
Some of the victims suffered terrible injuries.
▪ fatal (=that kills someone)
Fortunately, his injuries weren’t fatal.
▪ minor
A man was treated in hospital for minor injuries.
▪ permanent
The brain can be affected by permanent injury after a serious accident.
▪ a nasty injury (=quite bad)
Fairground rides can cause some nasty injuries.
▪ a head/leg/shoulder etc injury
He suffered a shoulder injury while playing rugby.
▪ a spinal injury (=an injury to the spine)
The injured boy is being treated for a spinal injury.
▪ a facial injury (=an injury to the face)
I was offered treatment for my facial injuries.
▪ a sports injury (=one you get while doing sport)
She has vast knowledge of treating sports injuries.
▪ an industrial injury (=one that happens at work)
He was the victim of an industrial injury.
▪ internal injuries (=injuries inside your body)
He was coughing blood, a sign that he had internal injuries.
▪ multiple injuries (=large number of injuries at the same time)
She had multiple injuries and a fractured skull.
■ verbs
▪ have an injury
Tom was OK, and had just a few minor injuries.
▪ suffer an injury
He suffered a serious leg injury in a motorcycle accident.
▪ get an injury informal (=suffer an injury)
He couldn’t take the chance of getting an injury.
▪ sustain/receive an injury formal (=suffer an injury)
She sustained an injury to her hip.
▪ treat an injury
The injury was treated at the local hospital.
▪ recover from an injury
It took her six months to recover from the injury.
▪ escape/avoid injury
Two workmen narrowly escaped injury when a wall collapsed.
▪ cause an injury
The injury was caused by flying glass from the car windscreen.
▪ inflict an injury on somebody formal (=make someone have an injury)
Jenkins was accused of inflicting a head injury on one of his former colleagues.
▪ do yourself an injury British English informal (=accidentally hurt yourself)
Be careful with that knife or you’ll do yourself an injury.
▪ an injury happens/occurs
The injury occurred five minutes into the game.
■ phrases
▪ be prone to injury (=often get injuries)
She was rather prone to injury and often missed matches as a result.
■ injury + NOUN
▪ injury problems BrE:
He suffered injury problems throughout his career as a footballer.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ injury damage to part of your body caused by an accident or an attack:
The passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
▪ wound an injury, especially a deep cut in your skin made by a knife, bullet, or bomb:
He died of a gunshot wound to the head.
▪ cut a small injury made when a sharp object cuts your skin:
Blood was running from a cut on his chin.
▪ bruise a dark mark on your skin that you get when you fall or get hit:
Jack often comes home from playing rugby covered in bruises.
▪ graze/scrape a small injury that marks your skin or breaks the surface slightly:
She fell off her bike and got a few grazes on her legs and knees.
▪ gash a long deep cut:
He had a deep gash across his forehead.
▪ bump an area of skin that is swollen because you have hit it against something:
How did you get that bump on your head?
▪ sprain an injury to your ↑ ankle , ↑ wrist , knee etc, caused by suddenly twisting it:
It’s a slight sprain – you should rest your ankle for a week.
▪ strain an injury to a muscle caused by stretching it or using it too much:
a muscle strain in his neck
▪ fracture a crack or broken part in a bone:
a hip fracture