inure

See also: in ure

English

WOTD – 5 October 2009

Alternative forms

• enure

Etymology

From in- +‎ ure (“practise, exercise”).

Pronunciation

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

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 (usually) unpleasant. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: habituate, harden, toughen

   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 6

     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.

   • 1977, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Penguin Classics, p. 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.

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.
   • Edmund Spenser

     He gan that ladie strongly to appele / Of many hainous crimes 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, totuttaa (fi)
• French: endurcir (fr), aguerrir (fr), habituer (fr)
• German: abhärten (de), an (de) (etwas) gewöhnen (de)
• Greek: εξοικειώνω (el) (exoikeióno), εγκλιματίζω (el) (egklimatízo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: assuefare (it), abituare (it), acclimare (it), acclimatare (it)
• Maori: umanga
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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), 习惯 (zh) (xíguàn)

• Czech: zvykat
• Finnish: karaista, totuttaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: gewöhnen (de)
• Japanese: 慣れる (ja) (なれる, nareru)
• Polish: przyzwyczaić się (pl)
• Swedish: vänja (sv)

Anagrams

• Nueir, ruine, urine

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Latin

Pronunciation

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

Verb

(deprecated template usage) inūre

1. second-person singular present active imperative of inūrō