Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A sudden sharp spasm of pain. See Synonyms at pain.
- n. A sudden sharp feeling of emotional distress.
- v. To cause to feel pangs; distress acutely.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A sudden paroxysm of pain; a transitory or recurring attack of agony; an acute painful spasm; a throe; hence, a sudden and bitter sentiment of sorrow, disappointment, injury, etc.
- n. Synonyms Anguish, Torture, etc. (see agony), twinge, gripe, ache, suffering.
- To cause to suffer a pang or pangs; pain; torture.
- To press; cram, in any way; cram with food.
Wiktionary
- n. paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; sudden and transitory agony;throe
- n. A sharp, sudden feeling of a mental or emotional nature, as of joy or sorrow
- v. to torment; to torture; to cause to have great pain or suffering
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A paroxysm of extreme pain or anguish; a sudden and transitory agony; a throe.
- v. To torture; to cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a sharp spasm of pain
- n. a mental pain or distress
- n. a sudden sharp feeling
Etymologies
- Origin unknown.
Examples
“The pang is over, his sufferings are at an end for ever.”
“I tried to sway her by employing a string of Chinese proverbs, the expression pang guang zhe qing, or “the bystander sees more clearly” being a case in point.”
“Julia felt a certain pang at the thought of judgment being passed so lightly upon all those months or years of hard authorial labour.”
“That grief – the one great grief of their life, had come to her more wholesomely than to her husband: either because men, the very best of men, can only suffer, while women can endure; or because in the mysterious ordinance of nature Maud's baby lips had sucked away the bitterness of the pang from the bereaved mother, while her loss was yet new.”
“Destruction waits on all who would steal one pang from the racked heart of William Wallace!”
“Its pang is short-lived, and the face of the field-cornet soon lightens up again as he looks around upon his dear children, so full of hope and promise.”
“It gave him, he said in Parliament, a deep pang; and, as he uttered the word pang, his lip quivered, his voice shook, he paused, and his hearers thought that he was about to burst into tears.”
“I do not fear to die," she said; "that pang is past.”
“A pang is a paroxysm of extreme pain or anguish; a sudden and transitory agony; a throe; as, the pangs of death.”
“I have just been contending with a severe pang, that is now gone off; what effect its return may have, God only knows.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pang’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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MuffinBurns's list
Words to dreams
rapture, cove, tingling, pahutakawa, pang, khop kun kop, hella, boffo, nirvana, flood, synchronicity, sysiphus and 9 more...
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Muddleheaded Wombat
Childhood reading nostalgia, beginning with some choice examples from Ruth Park's classic The Muddleheaded Wombat.
miserabubble, animoil, soporific, possum magic, curiouser, snugglepot, cuddlepie, banksia men, gumnut babies, bottersnikes, magic pudding, gumbles and 31 more...
frindley This is the word used for a gunshot in my German translation of a Tin Tin story (Der blaue Lotos). Apr 8, 2008