Showing results for "aching"

• present participle of ache.

aching

American  

[ay-king] / ˈeɪ kɪŋ /

adjective

1. causing physical pain or distress.

   treatment for an aching back.

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

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Other Word Forms

• unaching
  adjective
• achingly
  adverb
• unachingly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of aching

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

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Explanation

Anything that's aching is sore and painful. After a hike up the side of a steep mountain or a long day walking around a city, you'll want to rest your aching feet. To ache is to feel a dull, constant pain, and aching things ache. Both words stem from the Old English acan, "suffer pain," from a Proto-Indo-European root that might be imitative of a groaning sound, the kind of noise you may make when you have an aching head or an aching tooth. Things are sometimes described as aching in a figurative way, too, when they're full of sorrow, like an aching heart or an aching loneliness.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

aching

My aching nostalgia isn’t limited to how the White House used to operate.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

“That innocuous little essay untangled some aching knot inside me,” she writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

As the Aedes aegypti mosquito expanded its range across more of the Americas, it brought with it the delirium, jaundice, and aching joints of yellow fever.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

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

There are no trains to be seen when he gets there, out of breath and aching from where his bag has been hitting against his back.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

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Related Words

• hurting
• nagging
• sore
• throbbing

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