sting

American  

[sting] / stɪŋ /

verb (used with object)

• stings,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stung,
  past participle,  past
• stang,
  past (Obsolete)
• stinging
  present participle

1. to prick or wound with a sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organ.

2. to affect painfully or irritatingly as a result of contact, as certain plants do.

   to be stung by nettles.

3. to cause to smart or to cause a sharp pain.

   The blowing sand stung his eyes.

4. to cause mental or moral anguish.

   to be stung with remorse.

5. to goad or drive, as by sharp irritation.

6. Slang. to cheat or take advantage of, especially to overcharge; soak.

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verb (used without object)

• stings,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stung,
  past participle,  past
• stang,
  past (Obsolete)
• stinging
  present participle

1. to use, have, or wound with a sting, as bees.

2. to cause a sharp, smarting pain, as some plants, an acrid liquid or gas, or a slap or hit.

3. to cause acute mental pain or irritation, as annoying thoughts or one's conscience.

   The memory of that insult still stings.

4. to feel acute mental pain or irritation.

   He was stinging from the blow to his pride.

5. to feel a smarting pain, as from a blow or the sting of an insect.

   His cheeks stung from the hail.

noun

• stings
  plural

1. an act or instance of stinging.

   The allergic reaction to a sting may be delayed for several hours.

2. a wound, pain, or smart caused by stinging.

   After an hour or so, the throbbing of the wasp sting subsided to a dull ache.

3. any sharp physical or mental wound, hurt, or pain.

   Laser treatment for wrinkles sounds like magic, but some people can’t tolerate the accompanying sting and burn.

4. anything or an element in anything that wounds, pains, or irritates.

   to feel the sting of defeat;

   Death, where is thy sting?

5. capacity to wound or pain.

   Satire has a sting.

6. a sharp stimulus or incitement.

   driven by the sting of jealousy;

   the sting of ambition.

7. Botany. a glandular hair on certain plants, as nettles, that emits an irritating fluid.

8. Zoology. any of various sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organs of insects and other animals capable of inflicting painful or dangerous wounds.

9. Slang.

   1. confidence game.

   2. an ostensibly illegal operation, as the buying of stolen goods or the bribing of public officials, used by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing.

10. Television. Sometimes a brief burst of music or a sound effect used to emphasize a moment of humor, drama, or fright in a show, or to punctuate a transition or another part of a show’s structure.

sting British  

/ stɪŋ /

verb

1. (of certain animals and plants) to inflict a wound on (an organism) by the injection of poison

2. to feel or cause to feel a sharp mental or physical pain

3. (tr) to goad or incite (esp in the phrase sting into action )

4. informal (tr) to cheat, esp by overcharging

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noun

1. a skin wound caused by the poison injected by certain insects or plants

2. pain caused by or as if by the sting of a plant or animal

3. a mental pain or pang

   a sting of conscience

4. a sharp pointed organ, such as the ovipositor of a wasp, by which poison can be injected into the prey

5. the ability to sting

   a sharp sting in his criticism

6. something as painful or swift of action as a sting

   the sting of death

7. a sharp stimulus or incitement

8. botany another name for stinging hair

9. slang a swindle or fraud

10. slang a trap set up by the police to entice a person to commit a crime and thereby produce evidence

11. an unexpected and unpleasant ending

sting Idioms  

1. see take the sting out of.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stingingness
  noun
• resting
  verb
• outsting
  verb (used with object)
• stinging
  adjective
• stingless
  adjective
• unstinging
  adjective
• stingingly
  adverb
• unstingingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stings
  plural

Participles

• stinging
  present
• stung
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sting
  simple
• stings
  simple
• have stung
  perfect
• has stung
  perfect
• am stinging
  progressive
• are stinging
  progressive
• is stinging
  progressive
• have been stinging
  perfect progressive
• has been stinging
  perfect progressive

Past

• stang
  simple
• stung
  simple
• had stung
  perfect
• was stinging
  progressive
• were stinging
  progressive
• had been stinging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sting
  simple
• will have stung
  perfect
• will be stinging
  progressive
• will have been stinging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sting

First recorded before 900; Middle English verb stingen, Old English stingan “to pierce”; cognate with Old Norse stinga “to pierce,” Gothic -stangan (in usstangan “to pull out”); the noun is derivative of the verb

Explanation

Sting most commonly refers to the wound inflicted by a bee or hornet, or to a kind of burning pain, like the brief sting when your doctor gives you a vaccine. A nasty remark can also sting. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee!" was Muhammad Ali's famous taunt to other fighters. But insects and boxers aren't the only ones who can sting. When someone says something that's both mean and true, it can sting. Such things are often referred to as stinging remarks. But if you're thinking crime, then a sting is a con-job that takes planning to pull off. When the cops spend months creating a fake crime-ring in order to catch criminals in the act, it's referred to a "sting operation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sting stings stang stung stinging

In the mid-2000s, “Dateline NBC” correspondent Chris Hansen became a national sensation for his hidden-camera sting show, “To Catch a Predator.”

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

Many consumers are feeling the inflation sting from their monthly electric bills, which rose 36% since August 2021, with ratepayers now receiving $176 monthly bills on average.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

The bill turned out to be part of an elaborate FBI sting that resulted in 14 legislators, lobbyists and others being sent to prison.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

The proposed donation was never made as it was part of an undercover sting, but that it was seemingly entertained has sparked questions.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

The fumes sting my good eye, but I don’t care.

From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell

"I'm excited with the progress that I feel that I've made, but this one stings 100%," said Shelton.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Immigration officials have been setting up stings on interstate highways for months, sweeping up hundreds of migrants who allegedly are in the country illegally.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

The fact that Patel has no criminal record and is not required to be on probation stings for San Mateo County Dist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

This can be caused by food, medicine or insect stings.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

I counted so much that the counting and the stings started to seem like the same thing—as if instead of measuring the stings, I was somehow causing them.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

But I have strong suspicions you are, and if so, as the children say, "I hope that stang!"

From Time Magazine Archive

The stang was ridden at the ancient town of Hedon, 18th, 19th, and 20th February, 1889.

From Bygone Punishments by William Andrews

At a spot where three roads met we encountered a crowd "riding the stang."

From The MS. in a Red Box by John Arthur Hamilton

Here is a box full of humble bees, That stang Eve as she sat on her knees, Tasting the fruit to her forbidden.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 1 by William Carew Hazlitt

The shorter pipe-fish, stang, or sting, Sygnathus acus.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher

At the same time, oil majors lack confidence that the political and legal frameworks are in place to protect their investment after being stung in the country previously.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

But please do not do this if you have allergies, or are likely to get stung.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Though stung, physically and emotionally, Sara carries on with a trip to the Devil’s Mouth caves because her recently deceased father visited them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

He and his wife left the town for Bordeaux on Saturday, but found that in the city "the air was acrid - it stung your eyes and people were wearing masks".

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

Sleet stung us as we reached the outside.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Shazeer’s departure is especially stinging because Google parent Alphabet spent billions of dollars bringing him back to the company only two years ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

However, nearly all of that pattern can be traced to one particular group: the aculeate Hymenoptera, which includes stinging wasps, bees and ants.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

However, this show of support from Fifa executives followed yet more stinging criticism of the Swiss.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

It’s a stinging insult: By the samurai code, Kanbei should be killed, not imprisoned — Murashige couldn’t have landed a more devastating slap than by letting him live.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

They were stinging his face and his hands and his neck and his nose, they were crawling up his pants’ legs and stinging and crawling down the back of his neck and stinging.

From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Related Words

• bite
• hurt
• inspire