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Added 9 October 2026

sore

/sɔː/ adjective

In Latin: ulcus Wiktionary

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about sore at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

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.
Dire; distressing.
The school was in sore need of textbooks, theirs having been ruined in the flood.

adverb

Very, excessively, extremely (of something bad).

noun

An injured, infected, inflamed or diseased patch of skin.
They put ointment and a bandage on the sore.
Grief; affliction; trouble; difficulty.

verb

To mutilate the legs or feet of (a horse) in order to induce a particular gait.
To grow sores; to be beset with skin lesions.

Origin

From Middle English sor, from Old English sār (“ache, wound”, noun) and sār (“painful, grievous”, adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *sair, from Proto-Germanic *sairaz (adjective) from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂iro-, enlargement of *seh₂y- (“to be fierce, afflict”). See also Dutch zeer (“sore, ache”), Danish sår (“wound”), German sehr (“very”); also Hittite [script needed] (sāwar, “anger”), Welsh hoed (“pain”), Ancient Greek αἱμωδία (haimōdía, “sensation of having teeth on edge”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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