stinging

comparative more stinging · superlative most stinging

1. Having the capacity to sting.

   stinging nettles

   Synonyms: smart

2. figurativelyPrecise and hurtful.

   a stinging indictment of the American prison system

   1 more example

   That same year, a young Gloria Steinem went undercover as a Playboy Bunny at one of his Playboy Clubs and wrote a stinging inside critique of the magazine's ethos and chauvinism in an article, titled "A Bunny's Tale," which was published in Show magazine.

   2017 September 27, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91”, in Rolling Stone

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of sting

   The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Drifts of yellow vapour, fiery, parching, stinging, filled the air.

   1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid

plural stingings

1. The act by which someone receives a sting.

   stingings of remorse

   1 more example

   the stingings of scorpions