Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💓 To beat strongly 💓 A pulsing pain
to throb

to throb

8 3.1
To beat or pulse strongly, often with pain and strong feeling
  • verb
  • /θrɑb/
translation icon : palpitar
  • Your muscles will ache, your head will throb.
  • began to throb
  • my head throbs
  • throb in my temples

My head is just absolutely throbbing right now.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I felt an old hurt begin to throb inside me.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The drumbeats started to get inside Dave's head; to throb in his blood.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • My leg throb like a drum.

    Marty (1955)

  • He makes my heart throb...

    Mala Noche (1987)

  • Jacobson felt a blood vessel begin to throb at the side of his head.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Because it means this big, cold canyon we call New York really has a heart, and if you listen very hard, you can hear it throb.

    It's Always Fair Weather (1955)

  • I closed my eyes, feeling the ebbing blood begin to throb in my temples again.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Kieran heard a deep thud and felt the sound throb through his body like a powerful heartbeat.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Howard's bad leg immediately began to throb in counterpoint to his pounding head.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • After my long run, I could feel my legs throb with each heartbeat, reminding me that I needed to stretch.

Synonyms

to pulse
vsto throb
20 4.2

To move in a steady rhythm like a heart

is felt more intensely and often involves pain or strong emotion
to pulsate
vsto throb
13 4.1

To beat or move in a steady rhythm

is stronger and often involves pain or strong emotion
to thump
vsto throb
10 3.5

To make strong regular beats you can feel in your chest

is felt inwardly and often involves pain or strong emotion

Antonyms

to rest
816 1.0

To stop activity to relax or sleep and get energy back

to still
12 4.2

To make quiet or calm

Phrasal Verbs

to begin to throb
1 4.1

Start to feel a painful, regular beating in part of the body

Compounds

heart throb
3.9

A strong quick beating of the heart from excitement or fear

How Strong

hammer
17 1.0
to pound
98 2.6
to throb
8 3.1
to pulse
20 4.2
to vibrate
91 2.8

Surface Forms

throb infinitive
throbbed past
throbbed past participle
throbbing present participle
throbs third person singular

Etymology

Throb comes from the Old English root throbban, meaning 'to beat' or 'pulse'. So to throb is to 'beat' or 'pulse' strongly and regularly, like your heart when you are excited or a sore hand when it hurts.