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stinging

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Precise and hurtful.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

stinging

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IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈstɪŋɪŋ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Having the capacity to sting.

  2. figurative

    Precise and hurtful.

noun

  1. The act by which someone receives a sting.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

stinging painstinging sensationstinging blowstinging words

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • stingverbBase word

    Cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • stingernounPerson or profession

    A cocktail made of made of creme de menthe and brandy.

  • stingyadjectiveDerived adjective

    Unwilling to spend (money, time, resources, etc.).

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • stinging nettlenounCompound term

    Perennial Eurasian nettle established in North America having broad coarsely toothed leaves with copious stinging hairs.

  • stinging hairnounCompound term

    A multicellular hair in plants like the stinging nettle that expels an irritating fluid.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: having the capacity to sting

stinglessRare

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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.