ache

verb \ ˈāk \

|Updated on: 12 Jul 2018

Examples: ache in a Sentence

Definition of ache

ached; aching

intransitive verb

1 a : to suffer a usually dull persistent pain

an aching back

b : to become distressed or disturbed (as with anxiety or regret)

aching with sadness

c : to feel compassion

My heart aches for those poor people.

2 : to experience a painful eagerness or yearning

He is aching to go.

See ache defined for English-language learners

See ache defined for kids

Examples of ache in a Sentence

Her muscles were aching from shoveling snow.
After running the marathon, his body ached for a week.
The candy's so sweet that it makes my teeth ache.

Recent Examples of ache from the Web

This ridiculous-sounding experiment is something physicists have been aching to do for years.

— sophia chen, WIRED, "The Quest to Make Super Cold Quantum Blobs in Space," 25 June 2018
Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade.

— Bloomberg.com, "Gunfire Erupts At New Jersey Arts Festival; 22 Wounded," 17 June 2018
Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade.

— zolan kanno-youngs, WSJ, "Shooting at New Jersey Art Festival Leaves 22 People Injured," 17 June 2018
Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade.

— de elizabeth, Teen Vogue, "Shooting at New Jersey Arts Festival Leaves 22 Injured," 17 June 2018
Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade.

— CBS News, "1 dead, 22 injured in shooting at New Jersey's Art All Night festival," 17 June 2018
Our hearts ache and our eyes are blurry but our dedication and resolve to building a better Trenton through community, creativity and inspiration will never fade.

— Philly.com, "Trenton arts festival shooting: 1 dead, 20 injured at Trenton arts festival," 17 June 2018
Writer Dan Watters crafts the voices of the Otherworld with a dreamy prose while artist Val Rodrigues and colorist Triona Farrell make absolute beauty with pages washed in pinks that are aching to be stared at.

— will nevin, OregonLive.com, "TBT #40: New Nancy Drew, sci-fi and more coming in comics," 13 June 2018
Muslim women, particularly the many who ache to prove that one can be covered and cool, can now jump into the fray with a bit less self-consciousness.

— rafia zakaria, The New Republic, "The Feminist Future of Modesty," 12 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ache.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of ache

Middle English aken, going back to Old English acan, of uncertain origin

Note: Originally a Class VI strong verb, to judge by Middle English past tense forms such as eoc, ok, etc. (no preterit forms are attested in Old English). There is no counterpart to the verb in other Germanic languages, and words adduced as possible relatives (e.g., Middle Dutch akel "harm, injury, grief," Middle Low German ēken "to fester") are formally and semantically only vaguely comparable. Regarding the spelling see note at ²ache.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

ache Synonyms

Synonyms

hurt, pain, smart;

agonize, anguish, suffer;

afflict, harrow, torment, torture;

ache

noun

Definition of ache

1 : a usually dull persistent pain

had an ache in his back

2 : a condition marked by aching

looked through the old pictures with a dull ache in her heart

See ache defined for English-language learners

Examples of ache in a Sentence

He had a dull ache in his back from lifting boxes all day.
a dull pounding ache in his head

Recent Examples of ache from the Web

My personal challenges included chronic stomach aches and malaria, illnesses that kept me in and out of the hospital.

— vincent kituku, idahostatesman, "Investing in the lives of poor children changes the present and the future," 28 June 2018
But, like a bad stomach ache, the trauma eventually did hurl itself out: inconveniently, violently, and messily.

— refinery29.com, "The Tale Is The Most Realistic Portrayal Of Rape & Trauma You’ve Ever Seen," 25 May 2018
Then one day in 2016, Fierro woke up with a stomach ache, a persistent gnawing in his lower abdomen.

— danielle lerner, The Courier-Journal, "Churchill Downs exercise rider uses horses as 'therapy' to beat cancer," 3 May 2018
Boxes of Manischewitz are always on hand in our house, ready to be pulled out for pneumonia, mono, flu, sniffles, stomach aches, bruises or bad moods.

— the healthyish team, Bon Appetit, "We Asked Grandparents How to Get Healthy Because They Know EVERYTHING," 7 Mar. 2018
Symptoms such as fever, body aches, extreme tiredness and dry cough are more common and intense with flu than with a cold.

— karen herzog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Flu outbreak in Wisconsin severe and expected to be widespread at least another month," 19 Jan. 2018
If your mattress is too firm, excess pressure on areas like your shoulders, hips, knees, side, and back can lead to aches and pains, Dr. Aouad says.

— nina bahadur, SELF, "6 Ways Your Mattress Could Be Negatively Affecting Your Health," 15 June 2018
Slumped in his Beijing hospital bed in tatty ward-issue pajamas, the 69-year-old is a warren of aches and scuffs, and sports a whopping frostbite sore on each of his two cheeks.

— charlie campbell / beijing, Time, "'I Hate It.' Double-Amputee Climber Xia Boyu Vows Never to Return to Everest," 14 June 2018
University researchers are hoping that $3,500 will convince enough people to risk possibly suffering through a bout of diarrhea, fever, body aches and other flu symptoms in the name of science.

— alexandria hein, Fox News, "University will pay you $3,500 to get the flu and book you a 10-day stay at 'Hotel Influenza'," 7 June 2018

Origin and Etymology of ache

Middle English, going back to Old English æce, ece, noun derivative from the base of acan "to ¹ache"

Note: The spelling with -ch-, reflecting the historical pronunciation of the noun, has spread to the verb, while the pronunciation of the verb with [k], continued from Old English, has spread to the noun since late Middle English. The persistence of the spelling with -ch- may have been influenced by Samuel Johnson's mistaken notion that the word derived from Greek áchos "pain, distress."

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year