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  • stinger
    stinger
    noun
    a person or thing that stings.
  • Stinger
    Stinger
    noun
    a device, consisting of a long track of raised spikes, laid across a road by police to puncture the tyres of escaping vehicles

stinger

American  
[sting-er] / ˈstɪŋ ər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that stings.

  2. an animal or plant having a stinging organ.

  3. the sting or stinging organ of an insect or other animal.

  4. Informal. a stinging blow, remark, or the like.

  5. a cocktail made of brandy and crème de menthe.

  6. Military. Stinger, a U.S. Army shoulder-launched, heat-seeking antiaircraft missile with a range of 3 miles (5 kilometers).

  7. British Informal. a highball of whiskey and soda.

  8. Television.

    1. a clip appearing during or after the closing credits of a show or movie.

      The next season’s new cast member appears briefly in the stinger.

    2. sting.

Stinger 1 British  
/ ˈstɪŋə /

noun

  1. a device, consisting of a long track of raised spikes, laid across a road by police to puncture the tyres of escaping vehicles

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
stinger 2 British  
/ ˈstɪŋə /

noun

  1. a person, plant, animal, etc, that stings or hurts

  2. any marine creature that stings its victims, esp the box jellyfish

  3. Also: stengah.  a whisky and soda with crushed ice

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
stinger Scientific  
/ stĭng′ər /

  1. A sharp stinging organ, such as that of a bee, scorpion, or stingray. Stingers usually inject venom.

Etymology

Origin of stinger

First recorded in 1545–55; sting + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"If police want to speak to someone about their wellbeing, then you wouldn't have a helicopter and a stinger," she says.

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026

The stinger comes when Alfredo’s father convinces Violetta to leave his son to free the family from scandal.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

For many people, even glimpsing a hornet's stinger is enough to cause alarm.

From Science Daily • Dec. 4, 2025

When the stinger pierces the skin, “it can cause puncture wounds, injection of venom, and tissue damage, leading to pain, swelling, and occasionally secondary infection,” according to the state agency.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2025

I came up sputtering, and realized I’d stepped on a skate, that diamond-shaped fish with a stinger tail.

From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.