✅ Sting means to cause a sharp, irritating pain (The burn started to sting when the water hit it).

✅ Smart means to cause, or feel, a sharp, especially irritating and stinging, pain (His hand smarted where he had accidentally cut it).

✅ Although sting and smart refer to similar types of pain, sting more often refers to a pain caused by something hurting you, whereas smart more often refers to the pain you feel during or after being hurt (The cold rain stung her skin; Her twisted ankle still smarted after a few weeks).

✅ Balk means to stop and refuse to go on (The horse balked at the sight of a lizard).

✅ Demur means to object to or show reluctance toward something, especially based on scruples (I demurred when I was offered an extra bag of apples under the table).

✅ Although both balk and demur mean to object to something, balk suggests a sudden and stubborn refusal to continue or to go on, whereas demur has a less stubborn connotation (At first I demurred, but I accepted after hearing their perspective; He balked at the dangerous river crossing and decided to go home).

An ovation is an especially enthusiastic and prolonged round of applause, often by an entire audience, such as at the end of a concert. The word is especially known for its use in the phrase standing ovation, in which members of the audience not only applaud but also stand to signal their passionate acclaim.

Today we give a standing ovation to 50 years of hip-hop artists and their language mastery, including the wordsmiths whose next level lyrics we’ve featured in our Hip-Hop Editions of Synonym of the Day.

Don't miss the greatest hits in our Hip-Hop Vocab Playlist!

And don't miss our Hip-Hop 50 videos:

@dictionarycom We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop! How many of these iconic album covers do you recognize? #hiphop50 #hiphop #hophopanniversary #language #vocab #vocabulary #word #words ♬ Euro$tep - West