sharp sting
1
3.2
- noun
:
punzada aguda
- He felt a sharp sting in his ankle when he accidentally brushed against a thorn bush.
- feel a sharp sting
Examples
-
I feel the sharp sting of a razor blade against her flesh.
-
After the bee stung him, he experienced a sharp sting that lasted for a few moments.
-
Yes, he remembers exactly that sharp sting in his back this many years later.
Fiction book (2001) -
The cold numbed his skin, and then there was a sharp sting.
Fiction book (1991) -
Grant jerked upright, confused by the sharp sting of the ice pick as it passed through his brain stem with textbook precision.
Fiction book (2001) -
A pain lanced through Ice Fire's breast, a sharp sting like the cool, keen edge of a dart piercing him.
Fiction book (1990) -
She cried out from the sharp sting of the cold wind on her cheeks as she stepped outside.
Synonyms
91
2.3
To feel a sharp, sudden pain like an insect bite
10
3.3
A sudden strong feeling of hurt in one small part of the body
8
3.5
A sudden sharp feeling, often of pain or strong emotion
A sharp uncomfortable feeling in the body when something hurts
Antonyms
How Painful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'sharp' describes the quality of a 'sting', so the combined meaning (a sudden, intense brief pain like a prick) is directly derivable from the constituent words. This adjective+noun pattern is common and non-idiomatic, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand the MWE.
Etymology
The phrase sharp sting comes from the clear image of something pointed, like a bee's sting or a nettle, quickly pricking the skin. The word sharp shows it is sudden and strong and the word sting shows the quick prick, so sharp sting now means 'a sudden, intense pain'.