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

Other objects seized in the police sting included satellite phones, GPS devices, encrypted communication tools and satellite dishes.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

Resident Louise Nicholson initially thought the creatures - which can sting - were seaweed and "almost picked one up" before she began to take pictures.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

AI may help people avoid the sting of social missteps, but the relief is temporary, Golden says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

It would sting for companies banking on the completion of data centers in jurisdictions where pauses are in place.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Her words sting like only the truth can.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

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

"Right now it obviously really stings, so I'm just going to try and let myself feel it today - but try and get over it pretty quick," Raducanu said.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

It may not be as bad as bailing on the Bambino, but losing Betts still stings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

It still stings, more than 30 years later.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026

“But Ucho stings at me all the time. I am tired of it.”

From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis

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

From Time Magazine Archive

It curled and squirmed and gleamed, The stang it glowed, red-hot it seemed; Whate'er it touched it brunt and bristled, The very sod it scorched and frizzled.

From A Golfing Idyll or The Skipper's Round with the Deil On the Links of St. Andrews by Violet Flint

Now, in the middle part of the third hour, the air of the Gorge did begin that it was heavy, and to have a seeming of fumes that stang something upon the throat, odd whiles.

From The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson

In the Yorkshire Dialect Society's Transactions, vol. iii., part xvi., will be found a racy account, in the Beverley dialect, of the custom of "ridin' t' stang."

From Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems by Frederic William Moorman

What? stang; what do you want? stang chins-klé; what are you doing? stang chin-chái; what is your name? stang chins-ná; what is that? stang ta-sái-ya.

From Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi by George Gibbs

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

Hearts could barely have lost three more influential figures from the previous campaign, and each departure provided a blow that stung more than the last.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Some stung by the higher cost of living have had to make other plans, of course.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

But Clement resisted all these efforts to silence him, and he was stung by Ann’s charges.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Jellyfish tentacles are lined with thousands of venom-filled stinging cells.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Bunney said most jellyfish have stinging cells but the severity and detectability of the sting varies widely between species.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Zookeepers then pivot to old-fashioned tracking, braving thickets of brambles and stinging nettles in search of footprints.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

His most stinging losses were arguably in cases that the court didn’t hear.

From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026

Still others felt that fire, as it leapt into the air, produced stinging wasps.

From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman

Related Words

• bite
• hurt
• inspire