smarted

verb

past tense of smart
as in ached
to feel or cause physical pain the injection only smarted for a moment

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for smarted
  1. ached
  2. hurt
Verb
  • Miguel Cabrera ached through his final years with the Tigers.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 19 June 2026
  • My calves and thighs often throbbed, my waist ached and my knees swelled.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
Definition of ached
Verb
  • One piece of mail from the United Democracy Project quotes comments from Twitch streamer and El-Sayed fan Hasan Piker, such as a dark joke about 9/11, that Third Way tried to use months ago to hurt the progressive.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 15 July 2026
  • Hasek said the removal of services at the store would hurt the community.
    — Dylan Lysen, Kansas City Star, 15 July 2026
Definition of hurt
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

smart-assed
smarted
smarten
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Smarted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smarted. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on smarted

Nglish: Translation of smarted for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 17
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All