With etymological roots in the Latin word incurĕre , incur is a verb that refers to committing a mistake or making a mistake . The term can also refer to causing a negative feeling .
For example: “I do not intend to make the same mistake again: I have already learned my lesson” , “A judge cannot be prejudiced , he has the obligation to analyze the facts and evidence objectively before issuing a resolution” , “This doctor does not give me any confidence since I heard that he usually engages in dubious practices…”
When you commit something, in short, a mistake is made. Suppose an individual, displeased with his country's government, posts a message on social media threatening to kill the president if he does not change his policies. This publication triggers the alert of the authorities, who investigate the facts until they find the author of the threat. Once the person responsible is discovered, they arrest him. The man, faced with this situation, assures that he was not planning to attack the president and affirms that he only expressed himself out of anger, without any intention of expressing what he said. However, with his message he committed a crime : beyond the supposed lack of desire to comply with what he wrote, he violated the law.
It should be noted that crimes are not always incurred, but a negative attitude or action can also be incurred without it being a legal offense. A person who does not know how to manage their budget can incur unnecessary expenses that end up complicating their domestic economy.
Since this verb does not have a complete meaning until it is merged with an action or fact, it is not as easy to define as those that can denote a clear idea without the need for context (for example: sit, walk, talk, etc). In order to study its meaning in greater depth, we can use some of its synonyms; Among the most common are committing and influencing .
Just as we cannot use the verb incur on its own to convey a complete message, commit doesn't tell us much until we mention the action being carried out. In any case, as the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy indicates, it is defined as incurring or falling into a fault, a fault or a mistake ; Therefore, just like the previous one, it tells us about something negative even before knowing exactly what.
If we move on to influence , its definition is very similar, although it also has other different meanings; For example, it can be used as a synonym for repercussion , to talk about the effect that one thing has on another. In everyday speech, we most often find this verb with this meaning; However, in legal or journalistic texts sentences such as "The individual committed a crime that cannot be forgiven through a fine " may appear.
In addition to the synonyms just presented, we can cite a second list of words whose meanings are not so close to incur but can serve to qualify certain sentences or avoid redundancy when we have already used the previous ones: fall, win, attract and deserve . In the first paragraph it is mentioned that this verb can also mean to cause a negative feeling , and this is precisely the meaning for which these four synonyms serve: "With his actions he does nothing other than attract the hatred of everyone."
Having said all this, it does not seem very easy to find antonyms for the verb incur , since in itself it does not provide a very defined meaning. We could say that the opposite of committing a crime is doing a good deed , but it would also be enough to not commit the crime.