(~s, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
Pain is the feeling of great discomfort you have, for example when you have been hurt or when you are ill.
...back ~.
...a bone disease that caused excruciating ~...
I felt a sharp ~ in my lower back...
...chest ~s.
N-VAR
•
If you are in ~, you feel ~ in a part of your body, because you are injured or ill.
She was writhing in ~, bathed in perspiration.
PHRASE: PHR after v
2.
Pain is the feeling of unhappiness that you have when something unpleasant or upsetting happens.
...grey eyes that seemed filled with ~.
= anguish
N-UNCOUNT
3.
If a fact or idea ~s you, it makes you feel upset and disappointed.
This public acknowledgment of Ted’s disability ~ed my mother...
It ~s me to think of you struggling all alone.
VERB: no cont, V n, it V n to-inf, also it V n that
4.
In informal English, if you call someone or something a ~ or a ~ in the neck, you mean that they are very annoying or irritating. Expressions such as a ~ in the arse and a ~ in the backside in British English, or a ~ in the ass and a ~ in the butt in American English, are also used, but most people consider them offensive. (INFORMAL)
PHRASE: ~ inflects, v-link PHR, PHR to-inf disapproval
5.
If someone is at ~s to do something, they are very eager and anxious to do it, especially because they want to avoid a difficult situation.
Mobil is at ~s to point out that the chances of an explosion at the site are remote.
= anxious
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to-inf
6.
If someone is ordered not to do something on ~ of or under ~ of death, imprisonment, or arrest, they will be killed, put in prison, or arrested if they do it.
We were forbidden, under ~ of imprisonment, to use our native language.
PREP-PHRASE
7.
If you take ~s to do something or go to great ~s to do something, you try hard to do it, because you think it is important to do it.
Social workers went to great ~s to acknowledge men’s domestic rights...
I had taken great ~s with my appearance.
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to-inf