What is the difference between ache and pain?
ache | pain |
To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
* Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet , Act II, Scene V:
* , chapter=7
, title= (transitive, literary, rare) To cause someone or something to suffer pain.
Continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain.
* Shakespeare, The Tempest , Act I, Scene II:
wild celery
(countable, and, uncountable) An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.
(uncountable) The condition or fact of suffering or anguish especially mental, as opposed to pleasure; torment; distress; sadness; grief; solicitude; disquietude.
(countable) An annoying person or thing.
(uncountable, obsolete) Suffering inflicted as punishment or penalty.
Labour; effort; pains.
To hurt; to put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment; to torture.
To render uneasy in mind; to disquiet; to distress; to grieve.
(obsolete) To inflict suffering upon as a penalty; to punish.
Pain is a synonym of ache.
As verbs the difference between ache and pain
is that ache is to suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed while pain is to hurt; to put to bodily uneasiness or anguish; to afflict with uneasy sensations of any degree of intensity; to torment; to torture.As nouns the difference between ache and pain
is that ache is continued dull pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain while pain is an ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt.As proper nouns the difference between ache and pain
is that ache is a language spoken by the Yi people of South-Western China while Pain is an English surname, variant of Paine.ache
English
Alternative forms
* (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) due to the similarity in form and meaning of the two words.Verb
- Fie, how my bones ache!
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache , the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.}}
Derived terms
* ache forSee also
* (l)Noun
(en noun)- Fill all thy bones with aches .
Derived terms
* aches and pains * achy * backache * bellyache * earache * headache * stomachache * toothacheReferences
* Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition.Etymology 2
From (etyl) and modern (etyl) ache, from (etyl) .Etymology 3
Representing the pronunciation of the letter H .Anagrams
* English heteronyms ---- ==Jèrriais==Noun
Synonyms
* ----pain
English
Noun
- The greatest difficulty lies in treating patients with chronic pain .
- I had to stop running when I started getting pains in my feet.
- In the final analysis, pain is a fact of life.
- The pain of departure was difficult to bear.
- Your mother is a right pain .
- You may not leave this room on pain of death.
- Interpose, on pain of my displeasure. — Dryden
- We will, by way of mulct or pain , lay it upon him. — Bacon
Usage notes
* Adjectives often used with "pain": mild, moderate, severe, intense, excruciating, debilitating, acute, chronic, sharp, dull, burning, steady, throbbing, stabbing, spasmodic, etc.Synonyms
* (an annoying person or thing) pest * See alsoAntonyms
* pleasureHyponyms
* agony * anguish * pang * neuropathic pain * nociceptive pain * phantom pain * psychogenic painDerived terms
* pain in the arse * pain in the ass * pain in the back * pain in the bum * pain in the butt * pain in the neck * painkiller * painyVerb
(en verb)- The wound pained him.
- It pains me to say that I must let you go.