Meaning

2 senses
  1. Painful, sore.

    My arm is still smarting from where the ball hit it.

  2. (figuratively)Experiencing emotional pain or embarrassment.

Origin

From Middle English smertyng, smertinge, from Old English smeortung, smertung (“smarting,

From Middle English smertyng, smertinge, from Old English smeortung, smertung (“smarting, itching”), equivalent to smart + -ing.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

more smarting, most smarting
Comparativemore smarting Lesson
Superlativemost smarting Lesson

regular

Synonyms

17 synonyms

Word family

1 related words
Derivedsmartingly

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
smarting — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto