sore
- physically painful or sensitive, as a wound, hurt, or diseased part: a sore arm.
- suffering bodily pain from wounds, bruises, etc., as a person: 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.
- Informal. annoyed; irritated; offended; angered: He was sore because he had to wait.
- 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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for sore on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for sorer
Historical Examples
And never can human brain have held a sorer conflict of reflection than was mine.
The Strolling SaintRaphael Sabatini
The directors got sorer and sorer as Worth Gilbert's cheerfulness increased.
The Million-Dollar SuitcaseAlice MacGowan
But it was a miserable business, and our hearts were sorer than our bodies.
KilgormanTalbot Baines Reed
And is not mine, my friend, a sorer case, When every coxcomb perks them in my face?
Essay on ManAlexander Pope
I doubt you may have a sorer heart to carry about with you than you have kenned of yet.
The Orphans of Glen ElderMargaret Murray Robertson
sore
- (esp of a wound, injury, etc) painfully sensitive; tender
- causing annoyancea sore point
- resentful; irkedhe was sore that nobody believed him
- urgent; pressingin 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)
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for sorer
sore
adj.
Old English sar "painful, grievous, aching, sad, wounding," influenced in meaning by Old Norse sarr "sore, wounded," from Proto-Germanic *saira- "suffering, sick, ill" (cf. Old Frisian sar "painful," Middle Dutch seer, Dutch zeer "sore, ache," Old High German ser "painful," Gothic sair "pain, sorrow, travail"), from PIE root *sai- (1) "suffering" (cf. Old Irish saeth "pain, sickness").
Adverbial use (e.g. sore afraid) is from Old English sare but has mostly died out (replaced by sorely), but remains the main meaning of German cognate sehr "very." Slang meaning "angry, irritated" is first recorded 1738.
sore
n.
Old English sar "bodily pain or injury, wound; sickness, disease; state of pain or suffering," from root of sore (adj.). Now restricted to ulcers, boils, blisters. Cf. Old Saxon ser "pain, wound," Middle Dutch seer, Dutch zeer, Old High German ser, Old Norse sar, Gothic sair.
sore
(sôr)- An open skin lesion, wound, or ulcer.
- Painful to the touch; tender.
Idioms and Phrases with sorer
sore
In addition to the idiom beginning with sore
- sore point, a
also see:
- sight for sore eyes
- stick out (like a sore thumb)