bruises

IPA/bruːz/
KK[brˈuzəz]IPA/bruːz/

bruises — noun

1. dark marks under the skin that appear after a hit or fall, even though the skin

1.nounA2
Definition

dark marks under the skin that appear after a hit or fall, even though the skin is not cut open

Example

After the volleyball match, Nila counted three bruises on her knees.

bruises on + body part

The nurse photographed the bruises on Hamza's back before treatment began.

Common collocations
  • deep bruises
  • yellow bruises
  • bruises on your legs
  • bruises fade
Synonyms
  • contusions

    medical term for bruises; more formal than everyday English

  • marks

    broader word that can describe many kinds of visible damage, not only bruises

  • black-and-blue marks

    descriptive phrase focusing on the colour of bruises

Grammar Patterns

bruises on + body part

bruises fade

yellow or dark bruises

Usage Note

Used for marks you can already see on the body. If the skin opens or bleeds, learners usually need 'cut' or 'wound' instead.

Common Mistakes

The fall left bruises all over his arms, and several of them were bleeding.
The fall left bruises all over his arms, and one cut was bleeding.
A bruise stays under unbroken skin, so it does not bleed on the surface.

bruises — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Bruise is used when the damage stays under the skin and shows as a dark mark. Cut and wound both suggest that the skin opens, though wound is often more serious or formal. Scrape usually means the top layer of skin is rubbed off by a rough surface. If a learner wants to talk about black, blue, or yellow marks after a bump, bruise is the most exact choice.

bruise ↗cut ↗scrape ↗wound ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • seat belt bruises
  • bruised berries
  • fresh herbs

Adverbs

  • bruise easily
  • bruise badly
  • gently bruise

Phrases

  • cover with bruises
  • bruise the mint

Prepositions

  • bruises on your arm
  • bruises from a fall

Etymology

Old FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Bruises is built from the base word bruise plus the ending -s. The older word bruise came into English through French from a word meaning to break or crush. In modern English, bruises works both as the plural noun for several dark skin marks and as the third-person singular form of the verb, as in 'the strap bruises her shoulder.'

First known use

1533

1533, in the meaning defined at sense 1a Verb