aching

[ey-king]

adjective

1. causing physical pain or distress.

   treatment for an aching back.

2. full of or precipitating nostalgia, grief, loneliness, etc.

Other Word Forms

• achingly adverb
• unaching adjective
• unachingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of aching¹

Middle English word dating back to 1200–1250; ache, -ing ²

Example Sentences

The achingly slow pitch at a club ground is probably not the best preparation for playing at the Optus.

Read more on BBC

“Die My Love” seeks the eternal relevance of a film like “A Woman Under the Influence,” which so achingly portrays a mother’s undying love for her children amidst psychological duress.

Read more on Salon

Kennedy was guided below deck, where he broke down in tears, his body drained and aching, his six-foot-one frame wasted to a skeletal 110 pounds.

Read more on Literature

Alas, that means no real relief for the state’s aching wallets.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A pretentious young critic for the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma who never takes off his dark glasses, even at the movies, and rarely stops smoking, he is aching to make a feature of his own.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• hurting www.thesaurus.com
• nagging 
• sore 
• throbbing