Showing results for "aching"

• present participle of ache.

aching

American  

[ey-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

Etymology

Origin of aching

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

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

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

In the morning—before my aching knee and bulging blisters relegated my saunter to a limp—a 32-mile walk around Manhattan sounded like a good way to spend the first Saturday in May.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

Had Jonn's heart been aching for him then as his ached for Jonn now?

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

Related Words

• hurting
• nagging
• sore
• throbbing