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:
Because where the novel discards the solar-powered robot when she’s no longer needed, the film gives her a cure for an ache she never had.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026
The piece took Jordan two days and resulted in a neck ache.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Still, her transformation of Parton’s clouded sunshine into a feral ache is stunning.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
"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
I rubbed the ache in my arm where one of the ghost pins had gone through me.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Plague infects ferrets and humans alike, so emergency room doctors in nearby Wall and Rapid City are trained to proactively treat field technicians if they show up with body aches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
"Even inside the house, the smoke gets in. Honestly, since the haze, my body aches, as if I've been beaten up. The immune system is down. I get coughs and colds easily."
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
That is, until a few hours later when those uncomfortable muscle aches start setting in.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
“There’s a lot of us kind of limping toward the end here, a lot of aches and pains this year.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
My stomach aches, and I’ll be surprised if Zara still has a voice.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Her mother ultimately relented and let her daughter attend art school, but Kusama ached to stretch beyond the country’s traditional Nihonga painting style.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 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
"My heart ached, and I could only pray: 'God, please don't let that happen.'"
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
My lungs ached with the pressure of unreleased air.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
My aching nostalgia isn’t limited to how the White House used to operate.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
In a world of instant gratification, it teaches perseverance through early practices and aching muscles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Green lasers shot out into the crowd, revealing the faces of fans who’d waited all night on aching feet to see their favorites.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 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
“What would he want with the sea, and the cold, and the aching hard work?”
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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