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  1. a simple past tense and past participle of sting.
Related formsun·stung, adjective


verb (used with object), stung or (Obsolete) stang; stung; sting·ing.
  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.
  1. to use, have, or wound with a sting, as bees.
  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.
  1. an act or an instance of stinging.
  2. a wound, pain, or smart caused by stinging.
  3. any sharp physical or mental wound, hurt, or pain.
  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.
  9. Slang.
    1. confidence game.

Origin of sting

Related formssting·ing·ly, adverbsting·less, adjectiveout·sting, verb (used with object), out·stung, out·sting·ing.re·sting, verb, re·stung, re·sting·ing.un·sting·ing, adjectiveun·sting·ing·ly, adverb

Examples from the Web for stung

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

British Dictionary definitions for stung


  1. the past tense and past participle of sting
  1. Australian slang drunk; intoxicated


verb stings, stinging or stung
  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. (tr) informal to cheat, esp by overcharging
  3. a mental pain or panga sting of conscience
  5. the ability to stinga sharp sting in his criticism
  6. something as painful or swift of action as a stingthe 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. sting in the tail an unexpected and unpleasant ending
Derived Formsstinging, adjectivestingingly, adverbstingingness, noun

Word Origin


Word Origin and History for stung







Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

stung in Medicine


  2. To introduce venom by stinging.
  1. The act of stinging.
  3. The venom apparatus of a stinging organism.

Idioms and Phrases with stung

