Stinging

//ˈstɪŋɪŋ// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act by which someone receives a sting.

    "the stingings of scorpions"

  2. 2
    a kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of sting form-of, gerund, participle, present

    "The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Drifts of yellow vapour, fiery, parching, stinging, filled the air."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Having the capacity to sting.

    "stinging nettles"

  2. 2
    Precise and hurtful. figuratively

    "That same year, a young Gloria Steinem went undercover as a Playboy Bunny at one of his Playboy Clubs and wrote a stinging inside critique of the magazine's ethos and chauvinism in an article, titled "A Bunny's Tale," which was published in Show magazine."

Adjective
  1. 1
    (of speech) harsh or hurtful in tone or character wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
stingacanaceousacerbacerbateacerbicacid

Example

More examples

"Why do bees die after stinging?"

Etymology

From Middle English styngyng; equivalent to sting + -ing.

Related phrases

stinging catfish

More for "stinging"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.