How to Use hurtful in a Sentence

hurtful

adjective
  • She can't forgive him for the hurtful things he said.
  • Their comments were really hurtful to me.
  • No one called me, which was so strange, and that was hurtful.
    — Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 10 Jan. 2025
  • This is hurtful and bothers me a lot.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 5 May 2026
  • Evans said the church has been a hurtful and awful place for some.
    — Karen Pilarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10 June 2019
  • My words were hurtful and hateful and have no place in this world.
    — Jon Hale, The Courier-Journal, 5 Mar. 2020
  • Now, did some of the hurtful things that people said get to me?
    — Time Staff, Time, 22 May 2017
  • Strangers’ comments can be hurtful, of course.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2026
  • That's just hurtful and not honest.
    — Sean Mandell, PEOPLE, 8 June 2026
  • So, just a reminder that, what may seem like a bit of fun, can be hurtful.
    — Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 6 Jan. 2026
  • To have someone pull the rug out was just too hurtful and too much to move on from.
    — Vulture, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Well, that ended up being hurtful for both the fans and the team.
    — Matt Young, Chron, 4 Mar. 2021
  • These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.
    — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 2 Mar. 2021
  • These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.
    — J.d. Crowe | [email protected], al, 4 Mar. 2021
  • Harsh criticism can be hurtful, even to a fierce heart like yours.
    — Tarot Astrologers, chicagotribune.com, 22 Aug. 2020
  • These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.
    — Patricia Marx, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2025
  • The sh*t that happened tonight to me at the awards today was hurtful.
    — Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 2 July 2024
  • Gaslighters often say this to get away with hurtful comments.
    — Erica Sweeney, Good Housekeeping, 22 Apr. 2022
  • One news station even dug up things from my brother’s past that were hurtful.
    — James E. Causey, jsonline.com, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Liverpool fans know how hurtful crass chants can be.
    — Simon Hughes, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
  • Sometimes things are said that are hurtful — people tend to say stupid things.
    — Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2019
  • The children made their feelings clear in hurtful ways.
    — Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 21 Sep. 2025
  • But a lot of it isn’t, and these videos can turn into hurtful jabs at creators.
    — Julia Alexander, The Verge, 5 Aug. 2019
  • The words were hurtful and made my daughter cry, which woke up the mama bear in me.
    — Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, 15 Apr. 2022
  • However, his five-foot-eleven-inch stature could prove hurtful to his draft stock.
    — Stephen Wagner, Dallas News, 13 Jan. 2021
  • Iron Eyes, who lives on Pine Ridge, called it hurtful.
    — Terry Tang, Twin Cities, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Never allow your child to be rude or say hurtful things to you or anyone else.
    — Barrie Gillies, Parents, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Having that taken away from me at the last minute was pretty hurtful.
    — Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 8 Jan. 2022
  • Others view it as something deeply hurtful.
    — Joe Davidson may 7, Sacbee.com, 7 May 2026
  • The group had hundreds of members and the post had many hurtful comments.
    — Beth Collums, AJC.com, 18 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hurtful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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