smart
verb (used without object)
to be a source of sharp, local, and usually superficial pain, as a wound.
had been smarting
-
past perfect progressiveof smart.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
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.
Turned from it as he had been, smarting under the injustice and the pain, many a one would have haughtily refused to re-enter it, whatever might have been the emergency.
From Verner's Pride by Mrs. Henry Wood
I could not bring it into play; it was overwhelmed, buried, lost in those earlier feelings which I had been smarting under year after year.
From Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh
For years the friends of aristocratic authority had been smarting under the growing influence of the crown.
From The History of England From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) by William Hunt
The officers and men of the 32d Ohio had been smarting under the false accusation of "Harper's Ferry cowards," and had longed for an opportunity of retrieving their reputation.
From Four Years A Scout and Spy by E. C. Downs
She had been smarting under a sense of terrible humiliation ever since Mr. Copley's visit, but hitherto she had not wept.
From Name and Fame A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
