What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Pang vs Pinch - What's the difference?

pang | pinch | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between pang and pinch

is that pang is paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; sudden and transitory agony; throe while pinch is the action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

As verbs the difference between pang and pinch

is that pang is to torment; to torture; to cause to have great pain or suffering while pinch is to squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.

pang

English

(Webster 1913)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (often, pluralized) paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; sudden and transitory agony; throe
  • * 1591 , , Henry VI, Part II , act 3, sc. 3,
  • See, how the pangs of death do make him grin!
  • * 1888 , , "The Nightingale and the Rose" in The Happy Prince and Other Tales ,
  • So the Nightingale pressed closer against the thorn, and the thorn touched her heart, and a fierce pang of pain shot through her.
  • (often, pluralized) A sharp, sudden feeling of a mental or emotional nature, as of joy or sorrow
  • * 1867 , , The Guardian Angel , ch. 7,
  • He was startled with a piece of information which gave him such an exquisite pang of delight that he could hardly keep the usual quiet of his demeanor.

    Verb

  • to torment; to torture; to cause to have great pain or suffering
  • * 1918 , , "On Unanswering Letters" in Mince Pie ,
  • It panged him so to say good-bye when he had to leave.

    pinch

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To squeeze a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
  • The children were scolded for pinching each other.
    This shoe pinches my foot.
  • To steal, usually of something almost trivial or inconsequential.
  • Someone has pinched my handkerchief!
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=May 13 , author=Alistair Magowan , title=Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.}}
  • (slang) To arrest or capture.
  • (horticulture) To cut shoots]] or [[bud, buds of a plant in order to shape the plant, or to improve its yield.
  • (nautical) To sail so close-hauled that the sails begin to flutter.
  • (hunting) To take hold; to grip, as a dog does.
  • (obsolete) To be niggardly or covetous.
  • (Gower)
  • * Franklin
  • the wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare
  • To seize; to grip; to bite; said of animals.
  • * Chapman
  • He [the hound] pinched and pulled her down.
  • (figurative) To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve.
  • to be pinched for money
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
  • want of room pinching a whole nation
  • To move, as a railroad car, by prying the wheels with a pinch.
  • Noun

    (es)
  • The action of squeezing a small amount of a person's skin and flesh, making it hurt.
  • A small amount of powder or granules, such that the amount could be held between fingertip and thumb tip.
  • An awkward situation of some kind (especially money or social) which is difficult to escape.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 171:
  • It took nerve and muscle both to carry the body out and down the stairs to the lower hall, but he damn well had to get it out of his place and away from his door, and any of those four could have done it in a pinch', and it sure was a ' pinch .
  • An organic herbal smoke additive.
  • Derived terms

    * feel the pinch * in a pinch * at a pinch * pinchy * take with a pinch of salt

    Descendants

    * Japanese: (pinchi)