ache

[ eyk ]
See synonyms for: acheachedaching on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object),ached, ach·ing.
  1. to have or suffer a continuous, dull pain: His whole body ached.

  2. to feel great sympathy, pity, or the like: Her heart ached for the starving animals.

  1. to feel eager; yearn; long: She ached to be the champion. He's just aching to get even.

noun
  1. a continuous, dull pain (in contrast to a sharp, sudden, or sporadic pain).

Origin of ache

1
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.

synonym study For ache

4. See pain.

Other words for ache

Words Nearby ache

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ache in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ache

ache

/ (eɪk) /


verb(intr)
  1. to feel, suffer, or be the source of a continuous dull pain

  2. to suffer mental anguish

noun
  1. a continuous dull pain

Origin of ache

1
Old English ācan (vb), æce (n), Middle English aken (vb), ache (n). Compare bake, batch

Derived forms of ache

  • aching, adjective
  • achingly, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012