pang
Plural: pangs
Noun
- a sudden sharp feeling
- "pangs of regret"
- a mental pain or distress
- "a pang of conscience"
- a sharp spasm of pain
- A paroxysm of extreme physical pain or anguish; a feeling of sudden and transitory agony; a throe.
- A sudden sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of joy or sorrow.
Verb
Verb Forms: panged, panging, pangs
- To cause sharp, sudden spasms of pain.
- To cause to have great pain or suffering; to torment, to torture.
- simple past of ping
Examples
- A PANG of regret hit him as he realized his opponent had just played a seven-letter word.
Origin / Etymology
The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is possibly derived from Middle English *pange, perhaps an altered form of prange, prōnge (“affliction, agony, pain; pointed instrument”) as in prongys of deth (“pangs of death, death throes”), from Anglo-Latin pronga, of unknown origin. Perhaps connected with Middle Dutch prange, pranghe (“instrument for pinching”) (modern Dutch prang (“horse restraint; fetter, neck iron”)), Middle Low German prange (“pole, stake; (possibly) kind of pillory or stocks”), Old English pyngan (“to prick”). The word may thus be related to prong.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Synonyms
stab, sting, twinge, ache, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, anguish, dere, excruciate, hurt, irritate, pang, pine, rack, throe, torment, torture, wring
Scrabble Score: 7
pang: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordpang: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
pang: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary