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# impair

«impair» in Mova's school dictionary: **To damage something or make it weaker or worse, as in…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (impair, impairs, impaired, impairing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To damage something or make it weaker or worse, as in «Loud noise can impair your hearing». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#m1)

2) «impaired» (adjective) — weakened, as in «hearing impaired» or «visually impaired». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In health and safety lessons: loud music, smoke or lack of sleep can impair hearing, breathing or thinking. In everyday life «visually impaired» is a polite way to say someone has poor eyesight. Phrases: impair your hearing, impaired vision.

### examples

- Very loud music can impair your hearing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#x1)
- Being tired can impair your concentration. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#x2)
- Smoke impairs your lungs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#x3)
- Our neighbour is visually impaired and has a guide dog. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#x4)
- The fog impaired the driver's view. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#x5)
- Drugs can impair your judgement. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/#x6)

### note

Formal; everyday words: damage, weaken, harm. Noun: impairment. «Hearing impaired» and «visually impaired» are respectful terms. Do not confuse with «a pair» or «repair» (to fix).

### In the corpora

- ["Visually impaired" means partly or fully blind; it is the official term.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/4-illness-disability-and-babies/10/)
- [Yea, thou doest away with fear, and impairest devotion before God.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.367/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «impair» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/impair/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.