sting

American  

[sting] / stɪŋ /

verb (used with object)

• stings,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stung,
  past participle,  past
• stang,
  past (Obsolete)
• stinging
  present participle

1. to prick or wound with a sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organ.

2. to affect painfully or irritatingly as a result of contact, as certain plants do.

   to be stung by nettles.

3. to cause to smart or to cause a sharp pain.

   The blowing sand stung his eyes.

4. to cause mental or moral anguish.

   to be stung with remorse.

5. to goad or drive, as by sharp irritation.

6. Slang. to cheat or take advantage of, especially to overcharge; soak.

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verb (used without object)

• stings,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stung,
  past participle,  past
• stang,
  past (Obsolete)
• stinging
  present participle

1. to use, have, or wound with a sting, as bees.

2. to cause a sharp, smarting pain, as some plants, an acrid liquid or gas, or a slap or hit.

3. to cause acute mental pain or irritation, as annoying thoughts or one's conscience.

   The memory of that insult still stings.

4. to feel acute mental pain or irritation.

   He was stinging from the blow to his pride.

5. to feel a smarting pain, as from a blow or the sting of an insect.

   His cheeks stung from the hail.

noun

• stings
  plural

1. an act or instance of stinging.

   The allergic reaction to a sting may be delayed for several hours.

2. a wound, pain, or smart caused by stinging.

   After an hour or so, the throbbing of the wasp sting subsided to a dull ache.

3. any sharp physical or mental wound, hurt, or pain.

   Laser treatment for wrinkles sounds like magic, but some people can’t tolerate the accompanying sting and burn.

4. anything or an element in anything that wounds, pains, or irritates.

   to feel the sting of defeat;

   Death, where is thy sting?

5. capacity to wound or pain.

   Satire has a sting.

6. a sharp stimulus or incitement.

   driven by the sting of jealousy;

   the sting of ambition.

7. Botany. a glandular hair on certain plants, as nettles, that emits an irritating fluid.

8. Zoology. any of various sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organs of insects and other animals capable of inflicting painful or dangerous wounds.

9. Slang.

   1. confidence game.

   2. an ostensibly illegal operation, as the buying of stolen goods or the bribing of public officials, used by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing.

10. Television. Sometimes a brief burst of music or a sound effect used to emphasize a moment of humor, drama, or fright in a show, or to punctuate a transition or another part of a show’s structure.

sting British  

/ stɪŋ /

verb

1. (of certain animals and plants) to inflict a wound on (an organism) by the injection of poison

2. to feel or cause to feel a sharp mental or physical pain

3. (tr) to goad or incite (esp in the phrase sting into action )

4. informal (tr) to cheat, esp by overcharging

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noun

1. a skin wound caused by the poison injected by certain insects or plants

2. pain caused by or as if by the sting of a plant or animal

3. a mental pain or pang

   a sting of conscience

4. a sharp pointed organ, such as the ovipositor of a wasp, by which poison can be injected into the prey

5. the ability to sting

   a sharp sting in his criticism

6. something as painful or swift of action as a sting

   the sting of death

7. a sharp stimulus or incitement

8. botany another name for stinging hair

9. slang a swindle or fraud

10. slang a trap set up by the police to entice a person to commit a crime and thereby produce evidence

11. an unexpected and unpleasant ending

sting Idioms  

1. see take the sting out of.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stingingness
  noun
• resting
  verb
• outsting
  verb (used with object)
• stinging
  adjective
• stingless
  adjective
• unstinging
  adjective
• stingingly
  adverb
• unstingingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stings
  plural

Participles

• stinging
  present
• stung
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sting
  simple
• stings
  simple
• have stung
  perfect
• has stung
  perfect
• am stinging
  progressive
• are stinging
  progressive
• is stinging
  progressive
• have been stinging
  perfect progressive
• has been stinging
  perfect progressive

Past

• stang
  simple
• stung
  simple
• had stung
  perfect
• was stinging
  progressive
• were stinging
  progressive
• had been stinging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sting
  simple
• will have stung
  perfect
• will be stinging
  progressive
• will have been stinging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sting

First recorded before 900; Middle English verb stingen, Old English stingan “to pierce”; cognate with Old Norse stinga “to pierce,” Gothic -stangan (in usstangan “to pull out”); the noun is derivative of the verb

Explanation

Sting most commonly refers to the wound inflicted by a bee or hornet, or to a kind of burning pain, like the brief sting when your doctor gives you a vaccine. A nasty remark can also sting. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee!" was Muhammad Ali's famous taunt to other fighters. But insects and boxers aren't the only ones who can sting. When someone says something that's both mean and true, it can sting. Such things are often referred to as stinging remarks. But if you're thinking crime, then a sting is a con-job that takes planning to pull off. When the cops spend months creating a fake crime-ring in order to catch criminals in the act, it's referred to a "sting operation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sting stings stang stung stinging

In 2018 and 2019, I’d been gearing up to run for mayor when the FBI targeted me in an elaborate sting operation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Unlike bees or wasps, which sting as a defence mechanism to protect themselves, a jellyfish sting is an automatic reflex, not a deliberate attack.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

He added, with sting as a resigning defence secretary, that "our adversaries do not follow timetables set by the Treasury."

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

It would sting for companies banking on the completion of data centers in jurisdictions where pauses are in place.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Her words sting like only the truth can.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Schmidt, an entomologist who specialized in insect defenses, created the sting-pain index which ranks stings from a harmless 0 to an excruciating 4.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

The fact that Patel has no criminal record and is not required to be on probation stings for San Mateo County Dist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

Ms. Gionfriddo writes tartly funny dialogue that stings and surprises, with tangy quips and savage retorts whizzing through the air, giving a buoyancy even to scenes that occasionally stretch past their necessary length.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

But for at least 10 indigenous groups, including the Gbagyi, whose homes and farms were replaced by ministries and mansions, that description still stings.

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026

Then all the little bees in their bright yellow jackets came swarming out with their red-hot stings, and they hurt Charley so that he couldn’t get away.

From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

But I have strong suspicions you are, and if so, as the children say, "I hope that stang!"

From Time Magazine Archive

The stang was ridden at the ancient town of Hedon, 18th, 19th, and 20th February, 1889.

From Bygone Punishments by William Andrews

Now, in the middle part of the third hour, the air of the Gorge did begin that it was heavy, and to have a seeming of fumes that stang something upon the throat, odd whiles.

From The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson

What, stang, stang-wut; what is that? stang ti-á? what are you doing? stang nis-chai?

From Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi by George Gibbs

"The Lord has taken away the stang of pain out of my life," she said.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

But Williamson, 34, hung in and stung the challenger in the eighth round.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Though stung, physically and emotionally, Sara carries on with a trip to the Devil’s Mouth caves because her recently deceased father visited them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Some stung by the higher cost of living have had to make other plans, of course.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

"And of course, bees, which he said have never stung him."

From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026

The words were like ice water, so cold it stung.

From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega

His hand rests on his heart as he evangelizes her writing — a surprisingly tender moment of sentimentality from a comedian who has made a career out of stinging misanthropy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

However, this show of support from Fifa executives followed yet more stinging criticism of the Swiss.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Bunney said most jellyfish have stinging cells but the severity and detectability of the sting varies widely between species.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

His most stinging losses were arguably in cases that the court didn’t hear.

From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026

The stinging place in my throat had turned into a big lump.

From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles

Related Words

• bite
• hurt
• inspire