What's the difference between sting and twinge?

Sting


Definition:

  • (v. t.) Any sharp organ of offense and defense, especially when connected with a poison gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.
  • (v. t.) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secrets an acrid fluid, as in nettles. The points of these hairs usually break off in the wound, and the acrid fluid is pressed into it.
  • (v. t.) Anything that gives acute pain, bodily or mental; as, the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach.
  • (v. t.) The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
  • (v. t.) A goad; incitement.
  • (v. t.) The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
  • (v. t.) To pierce or wound with a sting; as, bees will sting an animal that irritates them; the nettles stung his hands.
  • (v. t.) To pain acutely; as, the conscience is stung with remorse; to bite.
  • (v. t.) To goad; to incite, as by taunts or reproaches.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He's called out for his lack of imagination in a stinging review by a leading food critic (Oliver Platt) and - after being introduced to Twitter by his tech-savvy son (Emjay Anthony) - accidentally starts a flame war that will lead to him losing his job.
  • (2) I preferred the Times version, as my father would have done had he any interest in Sting.
  • (3) His words earned a stinging rebuke from first lady Michelle Obama , but at a Friday rally in North Carolina he said of one accuser, Jessica Leeds: “Yeah, I’m gonna go after you.
  • (4) In 31 patients in whom specific IgE fell to low (less than 6% counts bound) or unmeasurable levels, immunotherapy was discontinued, and sting challenge was carried out 1 to 3 years later.
  • (5) Colleagues involved in similar Telegraph stings this week included Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, Ed Davey, a business minister, and Steve Webb, the pensions minister.
  • (6) Leading figures including the musician Sting, business tycoon Sir Richard Branson and comedian Russell Brand have called for the possession of drugs to be decriminalised.
  • (7) "It wouldn't have covered the costs but it would have taken the sting out of what I'd spent," he says.
  • (8) Moderate to severe SRs were equally likely after stings of yellow jacket, white-faced hornet, and yellow hornet (65%), honeybee (67%), or wasp (70%), although historical SRs were reported more often after stings of yellow jacket, white-faced hornet, or yellow hornet (30%) than after honeybee (19%) or wasp (14%) stings.
  • (9) Dramatic cases of hymenoptera stings have been reported from various sources for several years now.
  • (10) We can expect a greater number of toxic reactions related to multiple stings in addition to the more familiar allergic (IgE-mediated) reactions.
  • (11) Insect sting challenge in 14 patients with urticarial reaction to last insect sting resulted in two systemic reactions (95% confidence limits 0-6 patients), a reaction rate of 14%.
  • (12) Those patients who were re-stung within 2 weeks (anergic period) or over 5 years after a generalized reaction to a sting had significantly improved response.
  • (13) We review the reported cases at our institution with all types of bites and stings.
  • (14) A frequent cause of contact urticaria is skin exposure to the common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).
  • (15) "We're trying to get Sting to wear a Pussy Riot T-shirt at his concert tonight," he'd told me the day before.
  • (16) 62 patients who had been stung by a red scorpion were admitted from January to December 1990: 18 with hypertension, 15 with supraventricular tachycardia, 11 with pulmonary oedema, and 18 with local pain at the site of sting but no systemic involvement.
  • (17) The standards committee report by a cross-party group of MPs said it "deplored" stings but would "not hesitate to act in such cases if wrongdoing had occurred".
  • (18) Sting – a man who had split the Police to pursue a more adult-oriented career, and who would in the following year ponder such poptastic issues as how much Russians loved their children and the plight of miners – took that job in 1984, while this year it falls to Guy Garvey, who may as well just change his middle name to 6Music.
  • (19) Also, the clinical pattern and treatment of the acute renal failure secondary to bee stings are discussed.
  • (20) Fifty nine patients (30%) with RXN3 responses to wasps failed to react to either test, while this applied to only 19 (6%) of the patients with RXN3 responses to bee stings.

Twinge


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
  • (v. i.) To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
  • (v. i.) To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.
  • (n.) A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
  • (n.) A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the arm or side.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The archive goes back to how Vietnam began to embarrass the US ("a twinge in the public relations nerve" - Mary McCarthy), the womens' liberation movement (illustrated by a tense, and often hilarious, debate between Norman Mailer and Susan Sontag in which she pulls him up on his use of the word "ladies") and George W Bush's invasion of Iraq (the NYRB was the only major publication to oppose the war from the off).
  • (2) He’s not able to play three games in a week.” Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe signs contract extension Read more Agüero damaged the left hamstring representing Argentina against Ecuador , nine days after feeling a twinge following the Champions League win in Mönchengladbach .
  • (3) Certainly Paris Saint-Germain – aside from being encouraged by the twinge to the right thigh suffered by John Terry which forced him prematurely from the fray and will require a scan on Sunday – will have learned little other than that the Premier League champions can still be expansive when permitted to revel.
  • (4) The funny things I remember all have a twinge of sorrow to them.
  • (5) But when future generations download the recordings, and listen to skylarks and nightingales, cuckoos and turtle doves, will they feel a twinge of sadness that these species are no longer with us?
  • (6) The Belgian, sufferer of a calf twinge against Southampton last week, was introduced for the final quarter – another boost for Guardiola before Barcelona visit the Etihad.
  • (7) Reading Scotland's Future, I couldn't at first account for a faint twinge of melancholy, a recognition.
  • (8) We’re having lunch in Winzavod, a fashionable ex-factory art space in Moscow where they have their office, and I almost feel a twinge of pity for those prison officials.
  • (9) You had to feel a twinge of pity for Lord Stevenson, who was the chairman of HBOS when it went down the khazi in 2008.
  • (10) To stay at a club where the fans love you is really important to me.” He is adamant he will not feel even a twinge of jealousy for Klopp.
  • (11) As I sit in the sun in the little peace garden finally eating my lentil dhal and nursing what is no more than a twinge in the small of the back, I can see what she means.
  • (12) Just as Ree Dolly is at her most beguiling when her mask momentarily slips, and her face briefly twinges with trauma and adolescent uncertainty, the usually formidable Lawrence's childish vulnerability is her most affecting quality.
  • (13) Touré was substituted before the end because of a slight twinge in his groin but Pellegrini did not seem too concerned it might prevent his midfielder from playing against Chelsea on Sunday.
  • (14) Some people may feel a twinge of sadness at some of the items that went the other way – VHS video players, MiniDisc players, local newspapers, nests of tables, bread bins, and jigsaw puzzles have all been removed from the basket in recent years.
  • (15) The tragedy is, just as not a single doctor in India who helped pregnant women get rid of their girl children will ever be held accountable for what has become an enormous social problem, it is doubtful if any UK doctors will ever feel a twinge of guilt over sex-selective abortion either, regardless of the consequences.
  • (16) Walker says he had "little twinges" when he saw the Mercury, but says that strikingly his health was good in the days afterwards: if he had made a big mistake, the stress would have manifested itself in stronger symptoms.
  • (17) Now the veil has been ripped away and we know there are a sizeable number of Tory MPs who are willing to do serious damage to David Cameron and feel no twinge of disloyalty."
  • (18) Part of me was really annoyed because he hadn't called me back for, like, a month and then I saw him and had this tiny burned twinge of hurt, but it disappeared within a minute because that sort of family bond is so much deeper than any other bond.
  • (19) Occasionally, however, disturbing sensations, such as "metallic taste", "twinging or stabbing" and "minute electric shock" are reported.
  • (20) The slightest twinge and I wonder if that's it, if I'm dying right there and then.