stinging

Etymology

From Middle English styngyng; equivalent to sting + -ing.

adj

1. Having the capacity to sting.
   stinging nettles
2. (figurative) Precise and hurtful.
   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. September 27 2017, David Browne, “Hugh Hefner, 'Playboy' Founder, Dead at 91”, in Rolling Stone

verb

1. present 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

noun

1. The act by which someone receives a sting.
   the stingings of scorpions
   stingings of remorse