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.

Americans have been smarting for years over how much more expensive everything from coffee to cars has become.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Drake is smarting, and he spreads that hurt across more than an hour in the trilogy’s marquee album “Iceman.”

From Salon • May 21, 2026

England, without a Six Nations title since 2020, will now face a Scotland side smarting from an 18-15 opening loss to Italy in Rome.

From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026

Americans are still smarting from a surge of food prices in the wake of the pandemic.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2025

It had started the cut to smarting again so when I went to wash I hung the vest on a chair and lowered the light cord so that the bulb would be drying the splotch.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner