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Definition of "sting" []

  • To pierce or wound painfully with or as if with a sharp-pointed structure or organ, as that of certain insects. (verb-transitive)
  • To cause to feel a sharp, smarting pain by or as if by pricking with a sharp point: smoke stinging our eyes. (verb-transitive)
  • To cause to suffer keenly in the mind or feelings: Those harsh words stung me bitterly. (verb-transitive)
  • To spur on by or as if by sharp irritation. (verb-transitive)
  • Slang To cheat or overcharge. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "sting" in a sentence
  • "VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Outrage at London sting by US spies'; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = 'Undercover American agents are staging secret \'sting\' operations in Britain against criminal and terrorist suspects they want to extradite to the US. ..."
  • "II. vii.66 (269,8) [As sensual as the brutish sting] Though the _brutish sting_ is capable of a sense not inconvenient in this passage, yet as it is a harsh and unusual mode of speech, I should read the"
  • "I think the name sting, is the opposite of who she is."