hurt feelings
- noun
- /hɜrt ˈfiːlɪŋz/
- Get over your hurt feelings, okay?
On the other hand, there are people who have hurt feelings, and frankly, it's unjustified.
- On the other hand, there are people who have hurt feelings, and frankly, it's unjustified.
- If you start going down the route of hurt feelings as grounds for curbing speech and free speech is over, it's dead.
- All these privileged kids are being protected from hurt feelings by parents today, which is why they're going to suck.
- Hey, if things go wrong, I'm going to be a really big and wonderful person in that moment, even if there's hurt feelings.
Examples
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I also have such trouble keeping my hurt feelings to myself sometimes.
Blog text (19) -
The nice ones get hurt feelings and hate you.
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I look at it as trying to avoid hurt feelings.
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It's the food debate that has caused black eyes and hurt feelings for centuries.
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Explaining that this resulted in hurt feelings should not be met with an attack.
Blog text (15) -
We haven't gotten along for years, to be honest, and there are a lot of hurt feelings.
Fiction book (1995) -
It's not about their bad experience anymore; it's about your hurt feelings that they didn't tell you sooner.
Blog text (26) -
If you are worried about hurt feelings, explain it to them lovingly, but don't feel guilty.
Blog text (10) -
We don't want to cause hurt feelings, but we want to be academically correct, in what we understand and know to be true.
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I apologize to both of you for any hurt feelings that I may have caused.
Synonyms
Feeling of hurt or anger caused by something insulting
A deep hurt to a person's feelings or pride
A feeling of physical pain or mental unease
Strong emotional pain you feel after losing someone or when love fails
A sharp feeling of sadness or hurt after an unkind act
A hurt feeling from disappointment, insult, or loss
How Hurt
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase denotes feelings that are hurt — the meaning is directly compositional from 'hurt' (to cause harm or pain) + 'feelings' (emotions). This is a common, cross-linguistically transparent pattern (emotional pain caused to someone's emotions) and would be readily understood by a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
The phrase hurt feelings may come from using hurt (like body pain) for emotions: imagine someone steps on your foot and it hurts, so when words or actions 'step on' your emotions they 'hurt' your feelings. That's why hurt feelings means 'emotional pain or being upset because of someone's words or actions'.