Make Your Point: INCUR

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INCUR

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce INCUR:

in KUR

connect this word to others:

As we check out the word incur, which literally means "to run upon, or to flow upon," see if you can recall a closely related word:

Literally "to run together, or to flow together," to ___cur most often means "to agree with people or things, as if your thoughts are flowing right along with them."

Other closely related words include occur (literally "to run against, to run toward"); recur ("to run back, to run again"); and succor ("to run up to, as if to help quickly").

And there are lots more! In fact, if you bump into any word spelled with "cur" or "cour," there's a good chance it's related to incur, and that it has something to do with running or flowing.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

The word "incur" is based on two Latin bits: in-, meaning "upon, against, or into;" and currere, meaning "to run, to flow."

So in its oldest and most literal senses, to incur meant "to run into, to flow into."

By the 1500s, though, it had grown to mean "to run into some kind of bad consequence: to cause some kind of bad result for yourself." Those are the meanings we most often use today.

In other words, to incur something (like a fee, or someone else's anger) is to cause it with your own unwise decisions: to bring it upon yourself.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Verb, the transitive kind: "If you violate the code of conduct on Reddit, you might incur a ban;" "Cher blows through stop signs and casually sideswipes parked cars, so, yeah, she incurs some tickets."

Other forms:

The other verb forms are "incurred" and "incurring."

And the noun is "incurrence."

Were you expecting the noun "incursion"? It does have the same etymology as "incur," but it most often means "an invasion, an attack: a flowing in of enemies."

how to use it:

Pick the very common, highly formal word "incur" when you want to sound serious as you describe someone who causes their own problems.

We talk about people incurring debt, fees, costs, expenses, risks, danger, suffering, losses, injuries, and damage. "I forgot to gas up the rental car and incurred a fee."

And, we talk about people incurring other people's anger (or wrath, or rage), or their hostility. "She asked us to call her Dr. Mitchell; if you call her Mrs., you'll incur her wrath."

examples:

"Making bulk wine comes with its own risks: It requires a winemaker to incur extra costs without the guarantee it'll find a buyer, and profit margins can be thin."
  — Laura Cooper, Wall Street Journal, 10 October 2025

"The conveniences in an enclosed corner
of the slant-floored back side porch
were the first indoor plumbing in town.
Aunt Jane put them in,
incurring the wrath of the woman
who lived in the big house next door."
  — Marilyn Nelson, "The House on Moscow Street," 1990

has this page helped you understand "incur"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "incur" without saying "bring about" or "bring upon yourself."

try it out:

On the topic of relationships, the psychology instructor Veronica Lamarche mentioned that the more someone makes investments in a partner, such as "mutual friends, blended families, family pets, shared living spaces, and even just the time spent on that one person... the more losses [they] incur by breaking up with that partner."

Could you explain what she means: how are these losses getting incurred? Do you basically agree with her, or not, and why?

Would you say that we also incur potential losses when we invest in friendships, jobs, careers, or anything else that will potentially end?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "That's A New One!"

I'll define and describe an amusing term that Dictionary.com has recently embraced. See if you can come up with it, and if you need more hints, you can reveal them by highlighting the black bits. To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

Try this one today:

According to Dictionary.com, it's a slang word meaning "a feeling of contentment with one's own pursuits and activities, without worrying over the possibility of missing out on what others may be doing."

It entered English around the year 2000.

It's one word.

It's an acronym, the kind you pronounce not by the individual letters but as a single word, as in NASA and BOGO.

It's modeled after a similar, older acronym.

It starts with the letter... J.

Its number of syllables is...two.

Its first three letters are... JOM.

review this word:

1. The opposite of INCUR could be

A. OFFEND or ALIENATE.
B. WAVER or OSCILLATE.
C. OBVIATE or STAVE OFF.

2. In the Lemony Snicket novel The Bad Beginning, which is aimed at 9- to 13-year-olds, the narrator has a delightful habit of defining words explicitly for the reader. For instance: "Afraid to untie or untape her sister for fear of incurring—a word which here means '_____'—Count Olaf's wrath, Violet stroked Sunny's hair and murmured that everything was all right."

A. wasting
B. making worse
C. bringing about

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INCUR Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INCUR

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.