sore
physically painful or sensitive, as a wound, hurt, or diseased part: a sore arm.
suffering bodily pain from wounds, bruises, etc.: He is sore because of all that exercise.
suffering mental pain; grieved, distressed, or sorrowful: to be sore at heart.
causing great mental pain, distress, or sorrow: a sore bereavement.
causing very great suffering, misery, hardship, etc.: sore need.
causing annoyance or irritation: a sore subject.
a sore spot or place on the body.
a source or cause of grief, distress, irritation, etc.
Archaic. sorely.
Origin of sore
1Other words for sore
1 | tender |
3 | aggrieved, hurt, pained, vexed |
4 | grievous, distressing, painful, depressing |
8 | inflammation, abscess, ulcer, wound |
Other words from sore
- soreness, noun
- un·sore, adjective
- un·sore·ly, adverb
- un·sore·ness, noun
Words Nearby sore
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use sore in a sentence
The lack of access has been a sore point within the SEC for the past decade.
How Tesla led the way for Chinese rival Xpeng’s $1.5 billion IPO | eamonbarrett | August 28, 2020 | FortuneThe man had a fever, cough, sore throat and headache for three days in March.
A Hong Kong man got the new coronavirus twice | Erin Garcia de Jesus | August 26, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThe first time the man was infected, he had a fever, cough, sore throat and headache for three days.
A man in Hong Kong is the first confirmed case of coronavirus reinfection | Erin Garcia de Jesus | August 24, 2020 | Science NewsThe volunteers who got it developed sore arms and other side effects that wouldn’t give away that they had not received the coronavirus vaccine.
New COVID-19 vaccines show promise in people | Tina Hesman Saey | July 24, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThe meningococcal vaccine is safe and was used as a comparison group instead of a placebo so that volunteers got sore arms and other side effects that wouldn’t give away that they were in a comparison group.
COVID-19 vaccines by Oxford, CanSino and Pfizer all trigger immune responses | Tina Hesman Saey | July 21, 2020 | Science News
But for the real Mark Schultz, whom Tatum plays in the film Foxcatcher, it has become a sore point.
Wrestler Mark Schultz Hates the ‘Sickening and Insulting Lies’ of ‘Foxcatcher’ | Rich Goldstein | December 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the wake of the verdicts in Ferguson and New York City, many of us are still sore with emotion.
The Stacks: A Chicken Dinner That Mends Your Heart | Pete Dexter | December 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFew sore losers could wield sharp words quite like Leon Trotsky, especially when talking about Joseph Stalin.
Kotkin Biography Reveals Stalin's Evil Pragmatism | William O’Connor | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt's always been the same: Tim Stoddard has a sore arm and they believe him.
Before that final game, the Birds suggested that Palmer take a cortisone shot in his shoulder, which, that week, had become sore.
The Father had been in sore straits of mind, as month after month had passed without tidings of his "blessed child."
Ramona | Helen Hunt JacksonShe is a model of the Brisk—the little Brisk that was sore exposed that day at Navarino.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingLeo flushed, and began again with a sore throat and a bad temper.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingJess, whose heart was still sore from the blow she had received at Mr. Closewicks grocery, thought this was very kind of Griff.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonAnd he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed, and sore troubled.
His Last Week | William E. Barton
British Dictionary definitions for sore
/ (sɔː) /
(esp of a wound, injury, etc) painfully sensitive; tender
causing annoyance: a sore point
resentful; irked: he was sore that nobody believed him
urgent; pressing: in sore need
(postpositive) grieved; distressed
causing grief or sorrow
a painful or sensitive wound, injury, etc
any cause of distress or vexation
archaic direly; sorely (now only in such phrases as sore pressed, sore afraid)
Origin of sore
1Derived forms of sore
- soreness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with sore
In addition to the idiom beginning with sore
- sore point, a
also see:
- sight for sore eyes
- stick out (like a sore thumb)
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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