sore
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: sô, IPA(key): /sɔː/
- (General American) enPR: sôr, IPA(key): /sɔɹ/
- (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: sōr, IPA(key): /so(ː)ɹ/
- (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /soə/
- Homophone: soar; saw (in non-rhotic accents)
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
Audio (US) (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English sor, from Old English sār (“ache, wound”, noun) and sār (“painful, grievous”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *sairą (noun) (compare Dutch zeer (“sore, ache”), Danish sår (“wound”)), and *sairaz (“sore”, adjective) (compare German sehr (“very”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂eyro-, enlargement of *sh₂ey- (“to be fierce, afflict”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (sāwar, “anger”), Welsh hoed (“pain”), Ancient Greek αἱμωδία (haimōdía, “sensation of having teeth on edge”)).
Adjective
sore (comparative sorer, superlative sorest)
- Causing pain or discomfort; painfully sensitive.
- Her feet were sore from walking so far.
- Sensitive; tender; easily pained, grieved, or vexed; very susceptible of irritation.
- Tillotson
- Malice and hatred are very fretting and vexatious, and apt to make our minds sore and uneasy.
- Tillotson
- Dire; distressing.
- The school was in sore need of textbooks, theirs having been ruined in the flood.
- (informal) Feeling animosity towards someone; annoyed or angered.
- Joe was sore at Bob for beating him at checkers.
- (obsolete) Criminal; wrong; evil.
- c. 1599-1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V Scene i:
- […] and your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.
- c. 1599-1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act V Scene i:
Derived terms
Translations
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Adverb
sore (not comparable)
- (archaic) Very, excessively, extremely (of something bad).
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Joshua 9:24:
- And they answered Ioshua, and said, Because it was certainely told thy seruants, how that the Lord thy God commanded his seruant Moses to giue you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our liues because of you, and haue done this thing.
- 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 911789798, pages 174–175:
- But on that day when Lancelot fled the lists, / His party, knights of utmost North and West, / Lords of waste marches, kings of desolate isles, / Came round their great Pendragon, saying to him / 'Lo, Sire, our knight thro' whom we won the day / Hath gone sore wounded, and hath left his prize / Untaken, crying that his prize is death.'
- 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Old Punt: A Curious ‘Turnpike’”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, pages 19–20:
- Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.
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- Sorely.
- 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
- And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, […]
- 1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jungle Tales of Tarzan:
- [… they] were often sore pressed to follow the trail at all, and at best were so delayed that in the afternoon of the second day, they still had not overhauled the fugitive.
- 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
Translations
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Verb
sore (third-person singular simple present sores, present participle soring, simple past and past participle sored)
Derived terms
Etymology 2
See sord.
Etymology 3
Old French saur, sor, meaning "sorrel; reddish".
Noun
sore (plural sores)
Friulian
Derived terms
- disore
- parsore
Indonesian
Istro-Romanian
Etymology
From Latin sōl, sōlem (compare Romanian soare); from Proto-Italic [Term?], from pre-Italic *sh₂wōl, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥. Compare Romanian soare.
Malay
Alternative forms
- سوري
Etymology
From Indonesian sore.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sore/
- Rhymes: -re, -e
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old French seür.
Etymology 2
From Old English sār, from Proto-Germanic *sairą (noun), *sairaz (adjective)
Adjective
sore (plural and weak singular sore, comparative sorer, sorrer, superlative sorest)
- Senses associated with pain:
- Senses associated with anguish:
- Harmful; creating or producing anguish, sadness or torment.
- Upset, distressed; currently in agony or anguish or affected by it.
- Challenging, complicated, laborious; requiring a large expenditure of one's energies:
- Challenging to deal with on the battlefield; violent, intense, mighty.
- Challenging to deal with; inducing great anguish.
- (Used with words relating to pain, soreness, or anguish) Very, strongly, bad, grievously.
- Malicious, iniquitous, malign; not morally or spiritually in the right.
References
- “sōr(e (n.(1))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-08.
Noun
sore (plural sores)
- The condition of bodily painfulness or hurting.
- A condition of anguish or affliction of the thought; injury of the mind:
- An issue or difficulty, especially one that causes great distress or evil.
- Regret; remorsefulness; anguish over one's past actions.
- (rare) The state of being scared or frightened.
- A specific affliction or condition:.
References
- “sōr(e (adj.(2))” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-09.
Adverb
sore (comparative sorer, sorrer, superlative sorest)
- Hurtfully, harmfully; in a way which creates wounds, painfulness, or anguish:
- Strictly, mercilessly, remorselessly; without attention to kindness or mercy.
- Expensively; in a way which creates a monetary or resource setback.
- With intense effort, prowess, or capability:
- Viciously, mightily, ruthlessly, strongly; using intense strength or prowess in battle.
- Nimbly, powerfully, quickly; using intense dexterity or physical force.
- Toilingly; backbreakingly, painstakingly; with much work.
- With great patience and focus; diligently; patiently.
- (Especially used with words relating to feelings or thought) Very, extremely, incredibly, a lot.
- Taut, secure; held strongly and with security.
- While suffering or experiencing an injury or pain.
References
- “sōre (adv.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-09.
Etymology 3
From Old French essorer.
Etymology 4
From Old French sor.
Etymology 5
From Anglo-Norman soree.