sting
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A puncture made by an insect or arachnid in an attack, usually including the injection of venom.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
stingIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin
A puncture made by an insect or arachnid in an attack, usually including the injection of venom.
A pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack.
A sharp, localized pain primarily on the epidermis.
The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
A kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung
verb
figurative
To cause harm or pain to.
Cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort
Cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin
Used this way, sting is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Nearby words
- insect bite , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sting
- “My hand stings after knocking on the door so long.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A cocktail made of made of creme de menthe and brandy.
A kind of pain.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Unwilling to spend (money, time, resources, etc.).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care (especially an operation implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals).
Perennial Eurasian nettle established in North America having broad coarsely toothed leaves with copious stinging hairs.
A multicellular hair in plants like the stinging nettle that expels an irritating fluid.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.