ache
Americanverb (used without object)
-
aches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ached,
past participle, past
-
aching
present participle
-
to have or suffer a continuous, dull pain.
His whole body ached.
- Synonyms:
- hurt
-
to feel great sympathy, pity, or the like.
Her heart ached for the starving animals.
-
to feel eager; yearn; long.
She ached to be the champion. He's just aching to get even.
noun
-
aches
plural
verb
-
to feel, suffer, or be the source of a continuous dull pain
-
to suffer mental anguish
noun
Synonym Usage
See pain.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
achesimple
-
achessimple
-
have achedperfect
-
has achedperfect
-
am achingprogressive
-
are achingprogressive
-
is achingprogressive
-
have been achingperfect progressive
-
has been achingperfect progressive
Past
-
achedsimple
-
had achedperfect
-
was achingprogressive
-
were achingprogressive
-
had been achingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ache
before 900; (v.) Middle English aken, Old English acan; perhaps metaphoric use of earlier unattested sense “drive, impel” (compare Old Norse aka, cognate with Latin agere, Greek ágein ); (noun) derivative of the v.
Explanation
An ache is a dull, lingering pain. An ache in your calves after your morning jog might mean you didn't stretch enough before you started running. You might describe your discomfort as a head ache or a stomach ache — in either case, there's a throbbing or continuous pain. A non-physical hurt can also be called an ache, and you can use the word as a verb in either case: "It feels like my heart will ache forever, since my sweet cat died." The Old English root is acan, "to suffer pain," possibly from an imitative Proto-Indo-European word that sounds like a groan.
Vocabulary lists containing ache
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:
"It's tough work... the hardest part is carrying the seaweed back. It's very heavy and your shoulders ache afterwards."
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Mr. Barragán, a reporter and researcher for the New York Times based in Madrid, is good on the small ache that makes the whole enterprise possible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Gnawing, almost unbearable heartbreak acts as the catalyst for a layered analysis of the ways humans — or, in the case of “The Sheep Detectives,” humans and their woolly friends — ache to forget.
From Salon ● May 25, 2026
"I'm at a loss and ache on behalf of our former president," one woman told the BBC.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026
I felt the ache of every muscle in my body, and as I closed my eyes, I felt the swirl of the sea around me.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Freeman did not undergo any imaging on his various aches and pains, although he said head athletic trainer Thomas Albert asked if he felt like he needed any.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
In painful detail, she described the splitting headaches, body aches, chills, high fevers and hallucinations that had tormented her for days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
"Has my body changed? I have no idea. I've got a few aches and pains, but if I sit in a chair for too long at my age I get aches and pains," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, and abdominal pain.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026
My stomach aches, and I’ll be surprised if Zara still has a voice.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
She wrote that her heart ached most looking at a poster her three children made when they were young.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Before Edward and Bella took over the world, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” viewers ached for David Boreanaz’s Angel and James Marsters’ Spike, centuries-old bros who fall for a very special high school blonde.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
Those ached more than stung and left me completely voiceless for the following 24 hours.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026
Cordova had been working on a Mexican American project, but he ached to create a story that specifically reflected his Ecuadorean background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
He ached to be outside, to see the sky, to gaze at the sea.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
The morning after losing to Federer, an aching Willis limped to the shower at 4:30am to get ready for an interview on ITV's Good Morning Britain.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
At the film’s aching core is the romantic tether between the boys that refuses to die even in the face of gory attacks, painful betrayals and even uncertainty among the two of them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
My feet were still aching when I boarded my flight home the next day.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
After months of dizziness and arms aching so badly she could barely walk her dog, Susan Glannan lay stunned in a sunny hospital room as a doctor told her she should have open heart surgery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
My teeth are so sore, I can feel their aching roots deep in my jaw.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
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.
