sore
Americanadjective
-
physically painful or sensitive, as a wound, hurt, or diseased part.
a sore arm.
- Synonyms:
- tender
-
suffering bodily pain from wounds, bruises, etc..
He is sore because of all that exercise.
-
suffering mental pain; grieved, distressed, or sorrowful.
to be sore at heart.
-
causing great mental pain, distress, or sorrow.
a sore bereavement.
- Synonyms:
- grievous, depressing, painful
-
causing very great suffering, misery, hardship, etc..
sore need.
-
Informal. annoyed; irritated; offended; angered.
He was sore because he had to wait.
-
causing annoyance or irritation.
a sore subject.
noun
-
a sore spot or place on the body.
- Synonyms:
- wound, ulcer, abscess, inflammation
-
a source or cause of grief, distress, irritation, etc.
adverb
adjective
-
(esp of a wound, injury, etc) painfully sensitive; tender
-
causing annoyance
a sore point
-
resentful; irked
he was sore that nobody believed him
-
urgent; pressing
in sore need
-
(postpositive) grieved; distressed
-
causing grief or sorrow
noun
-
a painful or sensitive wound, injury, etc
-
any cause of distress or vexation
adverb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sore
First recorded before 900; Middle English (adjective, noun, and adverb); Old English sār; cognate with Dutch zeer, German sehr, Old Norse sārr
Explanation
A sore is a broken patch of skin — something you might put a bandage on — or it's something that gives you pain, like a sore throat, that’s red and scratchy and painful. You can have a sore and you can also be sore: if you've just ridden your bike over the Alps, you're probably pretty sore — achy and hurting all over. Maybe you've heard phrases like "Don't be sore at me, boss," from old gangster movies, meaning "don't be angry." A sore point or a sore subject is something you don't want to discuss, like the sensitive topic of your last history quiz, the one you slept through.
Vocabulary lists containing sore
Nothing But the Truth
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That Hurts! Synonyms for "Pain"
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"Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Shohei Ohtani has not pitched in a game for the Dodgers since July 3, though he admitted after Tuesday’s game that there’s more going on than just a sore left knee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
But after my massage, I felt light and pliable, if also tired and sore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
It had the power to soothe the roughest of sore throats and quiet the phlegmiest of coughs.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
The third day of the fire, he woke up with a runny nose, sore throat and chapped lips, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
We arrived back in Przemyśl at two in the afternoon with nothing worse than sore feet.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Patients also frequently dealt with stomatitis – painful swelling and sores inside the mouth – as well as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026
The biotech’s experimental cancer treatment is a genetically engineered version of the Herpes Simplex Virus type 1, the same virus that causes cold sores.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
It can cause ulcers or sores around the animal's mouth and face, difficulties swallowing and breathing, fever and lameness, foetal deformities and stillbirths.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2025
Tell-tale symptoms “include rash or unusual sores that look like pimples or pus-filled blisters on the face, body and genitals, fever, chills, headache, muscle aches or swelling of lymph nodes,” the L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
Beneath the furs he was naked and feverish, his pale puffy flesh covered with weeping sores and scabs.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Meanwhile, my chest is getting rawer and sorer.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 6, 2020
All the time, the shoulder was holding up, but getting sorer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2015
Bradley Beal played 21 minutes but was ineffective, scoring just two points on 0-for-5 shooting as he still recovers from a sorer lower back.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 27, 2012
He was never champion trainer but a sorer point is surely his failure to win a Classic at Epsom, where he became notorious for his bad luck.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 8, 2011
It’s not any sorer than my quads and hamstrings.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
“Six” was on my docket in March 2020, and missing it when the pandemic shut down Broadway was one of my sorest disappointments in those first few weeks of lockdown.
From New York Times ● Dec. 8, 2021
The United States is the biggest loser in raw dollars, but developing countries are the sorest victims, losing 5.8 percent of their total tax revenue rather than the 2.5 percent developed nations miss.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 14, 2021
The Bruins spent Friday assessing which body parts were sorest and what to do about them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2021
That might have been the sorest point for Amazon.
From Slate ● Feb. 14, 2019
My lungs are still burning, my throat raw, and my legs and arms are the sorest they’ve ever been.
From "Hurricane Child" by Kheryn Callender
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
