Meanings
plural sorenesses
- uncountableusuallyThe property, state, or condition of being sore; painfulness.
The salve made the soreness go away, but with the aches gone I suddenly noticed my other pains.
1 more example
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), often referred to by doctors today as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), is a type of arthritis that causes joint inflammation and stiffness for more than six weeks in a child aged 16 or younger. It affects approximately 50,000 children in the United States. Inflammation causes redness, swelling, warmth, and soreness in the joints, although many children with JRA do not complain of joint pain.
2024 September 6, David Zelman, “Understanding Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis -- the Basics”, in WebMD - uncountableusuallyA lingering emotional pain resulting in bitterness or resentment.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan uncomfortable feeling of mental painfulness or distress
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*sairanassī
- Old Englishsārnes“bodily pain; mental pain, affliction, grief”
- Middle Englishsornes
- Englishsoreness
From Middle English sornes, sornesse, sarnesse, from Old English sārnes (“bodily pain; mental pain, affliction, grief”), from Proto-West Germanic *sairanassī, equivalent to sore + -ness. Cognate with Scots sairness (“soreness”), Old Frisian sērnisse, sērnesse (“injury, lesion”), Middle Low German sêrnisse, sêrenisse (“wounding, injury, distress, need”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 疼痛, 酸痛
- 疼痛 (téngtòng)being sore
- 酸痛 (suāntòng)being sore
Finnish arkuus
- arkuusbeing sore
German Schmerz, Wundsein
- Schmerzbeing sore
- Wundseinbeing sore
Irish tinneas, nimhneachas
- tinneasbeing sore
- nimhneachasbeing sore
Norwegian sårhet
- sårhetbeing sore
Swedish ömhet
- ömhetbeing sore
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
soreness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soreness
“soreness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soreness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “soreness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/soreness.
Source: soreness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.