Meaning & use
sting
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To cause a sharp, burning pain, as an insect, plant, or chemical does.
Grammar: Can take an object (a bee stung me) or be used without one (my eyes are stinging). The past tense and past participle are both stung.
Patterns
- sting someone
- something stings
- sting from something
A bee stung him on the arm while he was gardening.
The antiseptic stung when I put it on the cut.
My eyes were stinging from the smoke.
nouncountable
A sharp, burning pain or wound caused by an insect, plant, or chemical.
Grammar: Countable: a sting, the sting. Often used with 'from' to say what caused it.
Patterns
- a bee sting
- the sting of something
- suffer a sting
She had a red sting on her leg from a wasp.
The sting of the jellyfish can be very painful.
He felt the sting of the cold wind on his face.
nouncountableinformal
A carefully planned operation, often by police, to catch someone committing a crime.
Grammar: Countable; often used in the phrase 'a sting operation' or 'set up a sting'.
Patterns
- a sting operation
- set up a sting
- be caught in a sting
The police set up a sting to catch the car thieves.
He was arrested in an undercover sting.
The FBI ran a sting operation against the gang.
nounsingularfigurative
A lasting feeling of hurt or anger caused by criticism or betrayal.
Grammar: Usually singular, often in the phrase 'the sting of something'.
Patterns
- the sting of criticism
- feel the sting of something
She still felt the sting of his unfair remarks.
The sting of defeat was hard to forget.
He tried to hide the sting of rejection.
Word forms
| third person singular | stings |
|---|---|
| past tense | stung |
| past participle | stung |
| -ing form | stinging |
| plural | stings |
Common combinations
- bee sting
- He is allergic to bee stings.
- sting operation
- The sting operation led to several arrests.
- sting someone on something
- A wasp stung her on the neck.
- the sting of defeat
- The team felt the sting of defeat after the final match.
- stinging sensation
- The cream caused a stinging sensation at first.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bite
- A bite is a wound from an animal's mouth or a small insect's mouthparts; a sting comes from a sharp organ like a bee's or a plant's hair.
- smart
- As a verb, smart means to feel a sharp stinging pain; it is more literary and less common than sting.
- prickle
- A prickle is a mild, tingling sensation, less intense than the sharp pain of a sting.
Word family
Commonly confused: sting or stink?
sting vs stink
Stink means to have a very bad smell; sting means to cause sharp pain. They sound similar but are unrelated.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The past tense of sting is stung. 'Stang' is not a word, 'stinged' is not the correct past form, and option D is not a complete sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.