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Pang vs Throb - What's the difference?

pang | throb |

As a verb throb is

to pound or beat rapidly or violently.

As a noun throb is

a beating, vibration or palpitation.

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.

    throb

    English

    Verb

    (throbb)
  • To pound or beat rapidly or violently
  • To vibrate or pulsate with a steady rhythm
  • # (of a body part) To pulse (often painfully) in time with the circulation of blood.
  • Derived terms

    * throbbingly

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A beating, vibration or palpitation
  • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=2 , My bosom was now bare, and rising in the warmest throbs , presented to his sight and feeling the firm hard swell of a pair of young breasts, such as may be imagin'd of a girl not sixteen, fresh out of the country}}

    Derived terms

    * throbber * heartthrob

    Anagrams

    *