ache
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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
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:
"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
Good TV is the product of many hands working harmoniously to merge visuals, writing and performance into stories that breathe, laugh and ache along with you.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026
Arnaldi described how he became ill on Thursday night, waking up with stomach ache at about 1am.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
That mix of discouragement and discontent surfaced repeatedly, like a dull ache, in conversations with dozens of voters across the San Gabriel Valley.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
The ache in my heart was to get to Willem and Nollie—but how could it be done with the travel ban?
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
These include repeatedly waking up throughout the night to relieve himself and "stomach aches real bad".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The researchers emphasized that their work focuses only on serious muscle disorders that result in hospital admission or death, not the milder muscle aches and pains that some people experience.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 30, 2026
To soothe the resulting stomach aches, the macaques have developed a habit of "geophagy, the deliberate consumption of earth", a recent study has found.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
A milder form of Legionella infection called Pontiac fever can also cause aches and headaches.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Whatever it is that lubricates joints I think must be in low supply now, because every moving part aches.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
She wrote that her heart ached most looking at a poster her three children made when they were young.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 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
Cordova had been working on a Mexican American project, but he ached to create a story that specifically reflected his Ecuadorean background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025
Part of me wanted to stay in my closet all day with my notebooks, pencils, and Aunt Florentine’s pillows; it felt safe there and comfortable....I ached everywhere, even behind my eyes.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
The painkiller is usually prescribed for relatively minor conditions, such as aching joints or people recovering from surgery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Injuries and exhaustion have him aching to retire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
My feet were still aching when I boarded my flight home the next day.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
But Pasbar has followed events in Iran closely, his heart aching as he watched the recent crackdown on protests until he couldn't bear it any longer.
From Barron's ● Mar. 16, 2026
Had Jonn's heart been aching for him then as his ached for Jonn now?
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
