Dictionary

inure en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ɪˈnjʊɹ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɪˈnʊɹ/ (US)
• /ɪˈnjʊə(ɹ)/ without the pour–poor merger
• /ɪˈnjɔː(ɹ)/ pour–poor merger

Etymology

From Middle English inuren, equivalent to in- + ure (“practise, exercise”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To cause someone to become accustomed to something that requires prolonged or repeated tolerance of one or more unpleasantries.
   • This conflict produces a psychic numbing that inures us to the realities of being tracked, parsed, mined, and modified. 2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 1, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:
   • Matcht with as valiant men, and of as cleane a might, / As skilfull to commaund, and as inur’d to fight. 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 12, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 196:
   • “Our kids have come to a place where they’re inured,” he said. “It’s almost like they accept it, which is not OK.” 2023 September 26, Heather Knight, quoting Daniel Lurie, “Levi Strauss Heir to Challenge Mayor London Breed of San Francisco”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • To none of these evidences of a fearful tragedy of a long dead day did little Tarzan give but passing heed. His wild jungle life had inured him to the sight of dead and dying animals, and had he known that he was looking upon the remains of his own father and mother he would have been no more greatly moved. 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 6, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
   • As Tom Paine warned, inuring us to lies lays the groundwork for many other evils. 1996, Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World:
   • Young people all across the continent were inured to a level of public brutality, in words and actions, that would have shocked their nineteenth-century forebears. 2005, Tony Judt, “Culture Wars”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:
   • Your insults to myself can be endured, / I am a philosopher and am inured. / But there are insults that I will not swallow / That you have levelled at our gods. 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 465:
2. (intransitive) To take effect, to be operative.
   • Jim buys a beach house that includes the right to travel across the neighbor's property to get to the water. That right of way is said "to inure to the benefit of Jim".
   • If I understand the process correctly, cash refunds are turned into the United States Treasury, but price reductions inure to the particular department and increase its appropriations by whatever they collect. 1979, Bernard D. Reams (Jr.), Internal Revenue Acts of the United States, 1909-1950 (page 231)
3. (obsolete, transitive) To commit.
   • He […] gan that ladie strongly to appele / Of many haynous crymes by her enured. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 39:

Forms

Deriveds

disinure · inurement

Synonyms

habituate · toughen · accrue · harden

Translations (36)

nl iemand begunstigen (to take effect, or to benefit someone) · bg приучвам (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fr endurcir (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · it abituare (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fi siedättää (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · nl gewennen (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · it acclimatare (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · cs navyknout (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · it assuefare (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · de an gewöhnen (etwas) (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · nl stalen (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · mi umanga (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · pt habituar (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · nl verharden (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fi karaista (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fi totuttaa (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fr habituer (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fi rasittaa (to take effect, or to benefit someone) · ru приучать (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · bg влизам в сила (to take effect, or to benefit someone) · grc οἰκειόω (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · pt endurecer (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · de abhärten (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · es avezar (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · el εγκλιματίζω (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · fr prendre effet (to take effect, or to benefit someone) · fr aguerrir (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · nl in voege treden (to take effect, or to benefit someone) · grc ἐθίζω (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · it acclimare (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · cs nabýt účinnosti (to take effect, or to benefit someone) · cs uvyknout (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · es vezar (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · pt acostumar (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · el εξοικειώνω (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure) · nl harden (to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure)