What does "inure" mean?

To cause someone to become accustomed to something that requires prolonged or repeated tolerance of one or more unpleasantries.

What is a synonym for "inure"?

Common synonyms include: harden, acclimate, acclimatize, accommodate, accrue, accustom.

//ɪˈnjʊə(ɹ)// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To cause someone to become accustomed to something that requires prolonged or repeated tolerance of one or more unpleasantries. transitive
"Matcht with as valiant men, and of as cleane a might, / As skilfull to commaund, and as inur’d to fight."
2
cause to accept or become hardened to; habituate wordnet
3
To take effect, to be operative. intransitive
"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"."
4
To commit. obsolete, transitive
"He […] gan that ladie strongly to appele / Of many haynous crymes by her enured."

"He could not inure himself to the manners of the East."

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

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.