bruise someone's ego

bruise | American Dictionary

bruise
noun[ C ]
us/bruz/
a place on a person’s skin that is darker from bleeding under the skin, usually from an injury:
My little boy fell off his bike and has a bad bruise on his shoulder.
bruise
verb[ T ]
us/bruz/
to develop a bruise or to cause someone or something to have a bruise:
He crashed into a table and bruised his shin.

Examples of bruise

bruise
The bruises and lumps were still fresh and unhealed on his face.
The total number of civilian casualties was seventy-seven, most of whom had suffered bruises or lacerations to the head.
The information is not only used for extreme illnesses, but also for information about how to treat colds, or cuts and bruises.
Additionally, she has a heel sore and bruises very easily.
There was bruising to both hands and some obvious wasting of the muscle.
Her husband broke a broom hitting her, bruising one of her arms.
In the labor of diet, exercise, fashion, and make-up, body may indeed be bruised to pleasure men.
The minimal amount of handling means that varieties sold in this way can be more susceptible to bruising without adverse effect.
The fruits appear to be at the peak of ripeness ; no bruises or scratches mar their surfaces.
The distinctiveness of psychic bruises can be displayed analytically through forms of distress that inherently contain judgments, such as the feelings of 18.
He never fails to hit the mark, as the purple bruises on the actress's body clearly show.
Because they will be handled heavily in the process of packaging, transporting and displaying, only varieties resistant to bruising can be marketed this way.
The second example of alliteration is 'brown and bruised'.
Likewise, apples with easily bruised skins or skin that has a speckled, or russeted, appearance can't be sold to this outlet.
In both, participants have fans and cheerleaders, learn and practice complex material, and often emerge from their contests battered and bruised.
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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.