inure

See also: in ure

English

WOTD – 5 October 2009

Alternative forms

• enure

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnjʊə/, /ɪˈnjɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˈnjʊɹ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ), (UK) -ɔː

Verb

inure (third-person singular simple present inures, present participle inuring, simple past and past participle inured)

1. (transitive) To cause someone to become accustomed to something that requires prolonged or repeated tolerance of one or more unpleasantries. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: habituate, harden, toughen

   • 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: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC, page 196:

     Matcht with as valiant men, and of as cleane a might, / As skilfull to commaund, and as inur’d to fight.

   • 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. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 465:

     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.

   • 1996, Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World:

     As Tom Paine warned, inuring us to lies lays the groundwork for many other evils.

   • 2005, Tony Judt, “Culture Wars”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

     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.

   • 2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 1, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:

     This conflict produces a psychic numbing that inures us to the realities of being tracked, parsed, mined, and modified.

   • 2023 September 26, Heather Knight, quoting Daniel Lurie, “Levi Strauss Heir to Challenge Mayor London Breed of San Francisco”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “Our kids have come to a place where they’re inured,” he said. “It’s almost like they accept it, which is not OK.”

2. (intransitive, chiefly law) To take effect, to be operative. [from 16th c.]

   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, cryptically, "to inure to the benefit of Jim".

3. (transitive, obsolete) To commit.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 39:

     He […] gan that ladie strongly to appele / Of many haynous crymes by her enured.

Translations

to cause to become accustomed to something unpleasant by prolonged exposure

• Bulgarian: приучвам (bg) (priučvam)
• Dutch: verharden (nl), harden (nl), stalen (nl), gewennen (nl)
• Finnish: siedättää (fi), totuttaa (fi), karaista (fi)
• French: endurcir (fr), aguerrir (fr), habituer (fr)
• German: abhärten (de), an (de) (etwas) gewöhnen (de)
• Greek: εξοικειώνω (el) (exoikeióno), εγκλιματίζω (el) (egklimatízo)

  Ancient Greek: ἐθίζω (ethízō), οἰκειόω (oikeióō)

• Italian: assuefare (it), abituare (it), acclimare (it), acclimatare (it)
• Maori: umanga
• Portuguese: acostumar (pt), habituar (pt), endurecer (pt)
• Russian: приучать (ru) (priučatʹ)
• Spanish: acostumbrar (es), habituar (es), avezar (es)

to take effect, or to benefit someone

• Bulgarian: влизам в сила (vlizam v sila)
• Dutch: in voege treden, iemand begunstigen
• Finnish: rasittaa (fi)
• French: prendre effet (fr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: أَقْلَمَ (ʔaqlama), عَوَّدَ (ar) (ʕawwada), آلَفَ (ar) (ʔālafa), بَلَّدَ (ar) (ballada)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 習慣／习惯 (zh) (xíguàn)

• Czech: zvykat
• German: gewöhnen (de)
• Japanese: 慣れる (ja) (なれる, nareru)
• Polish: przyzwyczaić się (pl)
• Swedish: vänja (sv)

Anagrams

• Nueir, ruine, urine

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /iˈnuː.re/, [ɪˈnuːrɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /iˈnu.re/, [iˈnuːre]

Verb

inūre

1. second-person singular present active imperative of inūrō