Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To habituate to something undesirable, especially by prolonged subjection; accustom: "Though the food became no more palatable, he soon became sufficiently inured to it” ( John Barth).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To establish by use; put into exercise or act; insure.
- To use; adapt; qualify; practise; exercise; ply.
- To toughen or harden by exercise; deaden the sensibility of; accustom; habituate: followed by to.
- To pass in use; take or have effect; be applied; become available or serviceable: as, the land will inure to the heirs, or to the benefit of the heirs.
- In law, to devolve as a right. It is commonly used of a devolution by law not intended by the parties: as, if the holder of a lease with covenant for renewal assigns it, and afterward gets a renewal to himself, the renewal inures to the benefit of the assignee.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To apply in use; to train; to discipline; to use or accustom till use gives little or no pain or inconvenience; to harden; to habituate; to practice habitually.
- v. To pass into use; to take or have effect; to be applied; to serve to the use or benefit of.
WordNet 3.0
- v. cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate.
Etymologies
- From in- + ure. See also the variant form enure. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, back-formation from enured, customary, from in ure : in, in; see in1 + ure, use (from Old French euvre, uevre, work, from Latin opera, activity associated with work; see op- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He also expressed “increasing doubts regarding the benefits which would inure to the West.””
“Subject to the foregoing limitation, this Agreement will be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns.”
“It could specify that time in the United States under this visa would not inure towards time for cancellation of removal.”
“But his love of Apple's creativity, which he happily extols, and Jobs' entrepreneurial ingenuity, which he salutes, don't inure him to its dark side.”
The Huffington Post: Fern Siegel: Stage Door: The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, White
“The church denies this characterisation and "vigorously objects to the suggestion that Church funds inure to the private benefit of Mr Miscavige.”
The Guardian: What happens when you try to leave the Church of Scientology?
“The document that they received when they bought the timeshare states that the timeshare "benefits and obligations hereunder shall inure to and be binding upon the heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns" of my parents.”
The Washington Post: Borrower has second thoughts about that second chance
“I agree that the foregoing agreements are binding on me, and that such agreements shall inure to the benefits of HuffPost, its affiliates and their respective Representatives.”
The Huffington Post: HuffPost Sanity Bus Official Sign-Up Form
“Beat reporters can inure their subjects into expecting fawning treatment from journalists, and then freelancers can come in and actually break big stories.”
“Beat reporters can, by their constant presence, inure their subjects into expecting fawning treatment from journalists, and then freelancers can come in behind and actually break big stories that people actually care about.”
“His schooling did not inure Ruggles from the misadventures of youth, and he went through a wild period in his early teenage years.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inure’.
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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March 2012
panache, evanescent, erogenous, vestibule, malfeasance, lacuna, blithering, incubate, breech, tabernacle, pearly, upholstery and 79 more...
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Article's related words
reading 2 articles a week and here will reference unknown words, weekly!
fervor, belie, inure, hiatus, ambivalent, chasten, revere, despise, expurgate, edify, neologism, inchoate and 13 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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GRE
GRE words from Princeton Review guide, ETS GRE Book from 2010 (for revised test), New Yorker/NY Times articles.
sycophant, obsequious, volubility, equanimity, enervate, effrontery, impertinent, platitude, impudence, quiescent, propitiate, equivocate and 124 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1861 more...
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Vocab [General]
No particular specification to this list.
philology, etymology, atavistic, proscribe, inchoate, vulgate, abstruse, agnate, anodize, anthropomorphic, assiduous, augur and 89 more...
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difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 257 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for inure.
myth17 Indians have become Inured to power cuts. Aug 9, 2012
yarb I had believed myself fairly inured to foolishness after
6 months for Reuter's in parched mad bloody Lebanon, but...
- Peter Reading, Ukulele Music, 1985 Jun 19, 2009
dangertoy I have used this word routinely for years to describe my tolerance for my ex. I always have to define this word to the listener, but there is no better word in my opinion to describe my dealings with this person. May 11, 2009
jaymediane Inure (also enure) v. 1 trans. (usu. be inured to) accustom (someone) to something, esp. something unpleasant : these children have been inured to violence. 2 intrans. ( enure for/to) Law come into operation; take effect : a release given to one of two joint contractors inures to the benefit of both.
ORIGIN late Middle English inure, enure, from an Anglo-Norman French phrase meaning ‘in use or practice,’ from en ‘in’ + Old French euvre ‘work’ (from Latin opera).
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.
Feb 26, 2008