Word.ws English Dictionary

hurt a fly

hurt a fly verb: to hurt or damage something even a little.

Verb

hurt a fly (third-person singular simple present hurts a fly, present participle hurting a fly, simple past and past participle hurt a fly)

  1. (idiomatic) To hurt or damage something even a little.
    • Talking of being eaten by dogs, there's a dachshund at Brinkley who when you first meet him will give you the impression that he plans to convert you into a light snack between his regular meals. Pay no attention. It's all eyewash. […] He wouldn't hurt a fly, but he has to put up a front because...1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Jeeves in the Offing
    Synonyms:
    harm a fly

Synonyms of hurt a fly

Forms of hurt a fly

third-person singular presenthurts a fly
present participlehurting a fly
past participlehurt a fly
pasthurt a fly

Questions about hurt a fly

What does hurt a fly mean?
Hurt a fly means to hurt or damage something even a little.
What part of speech is hurt a fly?
Hurt a fly is a verb.
What is the past tense of hurt a fly?
The past tense of hurt a fly is hurt a fly.

Words near hurt a fly in the dictionary

  1. Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common
  2. hursts
  3. Hurstville
  4. Hurstville Grove
  5. hurt
  6. hurt a fly
  7. hurt for
  8. hurt locker
  9. hurt people hurt people
  10. hurt someone's feelings
  11. hurt/comfort

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hurt a fly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-wouldn't hurt a fly.ogg.

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