inure

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

Also spelled enure and enuring

US /ɪˈnjʊr/ UK /ɪˈnjʊə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to accustom someone to something unpleasant; to take effect (in law)

Years at sea had inured him to the cold and the spray.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to accustom someone to... accustom habituate harden acclimatizetoughenseason

Opposites

sensitizesoften

Word family

Forms inured

Derived forms inuredinurement

Etymology

From Middle English enuren, from the phrase in ure 'in use, in practice', where ure derives from Old French uevre 'work, practice', from Latin opera 'work'.

uevre Old French opera Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# inure

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ɪˈnjʊr/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪˈnjʊə/

## Meanings
1. to accustom someone to something unpleasant; to take effect (in law)

## Examples
- Years at sea had inured him to the cold and the spray.

## Synonyms
- accustom
- habituate
- harden
- acclimatize
- toughen
- season

## Antonyms
- sensitize
- soften

## Derived Forms
- inured
- inurement

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: uevre
- Root: opera

## Etymology
From Middle English enuren, from the phrase in ure 'in use, in practice', where ure derives from Old French uevre 'work, practice', from Latin opera 'work'.

## AI Etymology
inure comes from Middle English enuren, from the phrase in ure 'in use, in practice', where ure derives from Old French uevre 'work, practice', from Latin opera 'work'. The path is chiefly one of transmission: the word passes through the named languages and forms, with each stage preserving part of the modern shape. In present English, the verb sense is "to accustom someone to something unpleasant; to take effect (in law)", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also remains productive in derivatives such as inured and inurement. Its semantic neighborhood includes accustom, habituate, harden, and acclimatize, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old French uevre and Latin opera.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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