- (North American English also stinger)[countable] the sharp pointed part of an insect or creature that can go into the skin leaving a small, painful and sometimes poisonous wound
- the sting of a bee
- The scorpion has a sting in its tail.
- The scorpion has a sting that can be deadly.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- nasty
- painful
- sharp
- …
- have
- get
- give somebody
- …
- [countable] a wound that is made when an insect, a creature or a plant stings you
- A wasp or bee sting is painful but not necessarily serious.
Extra ExamplesTopics Health problemsb2- She's allergic to bee stings.
- You can get a nasty sting from a jellyfish.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- nasty
- painful
- sharp
- …
- have
- get
- give somebody
- …
- [countable, uncountable] any sharp pain in your body or mind
- the sting of salt in a wound
- There was a sting of sarcasm in his voice.
- She felt the sting of tears in her eyes.
- He smiled at her, trying to take the sting out of his words (= trying to make the situation less painful or difficult).
- the hot sting of tears
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- hot
- sharp
- feel
- [countable] a clever secret plan by the police to catch criminals
- The FBI conducted a sting operation to catch heroin dealers in Detroit.
- She was arrested in an undercover sting operation.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- undercover
- FBI
- police
- …
- mount
- set up
- be arrested in
- …
- operation
- [countable] (especially North American English) a clever plan by criminals to cheat people out of a lot of money
Word OriginOld English sting (noun), stingan (verb), of Germanic origin.
Idioms
See sting in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarya sting in the tail
- (informal) an unpleasant feature that comes at the end of a story, an event, etc. and makes it less good, successful, etc.
Check pronunciation:
sting