String vs. Sting: What's the Difference?
Edited by Aimie Carlson || By Janet White || Updated on October 12, 2023
A string is a thin piece of cord or thread, while a sting is the act of pricking or a sharp pain from an insect's bite or sharp object.
Key Differences
A string is a sequence of characters, used in both everyday language and computing contexts. A sting, on the other hand, refers to the painful sensation or action of an insect or plant.
Musical instruments, such as guitars and violins, utilize strings to produce sound. Contrarily, a sting might be associated with the sensation one feels after being pricked by a bee or wasp.
String can also represent a line or sequence, like beads on a string. Meanwhile, a sting operation, a term often used in law enforcement, is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime.
In the realm of programming, a string is a datatype used to represent text rather than numbers. Sting, in contrast, does not have a direct programming context but could be a title or name within a string of characters.
Crafting projects might require string to bind or decorate. However, gardeners might be cautious about plants that sting, like nettles.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A sequence of characters or thin cord.
The act of pricking or the pain from an insect's bite.
Usage in Music
Relates to instruments' components.
Does not have a typical association.
In Programming
A datatype for text.
Could be a name or title within a text.
Physical Form
Can be tangible like threads or ropes.
Refers to an action, not a tangible item.
Associated Pain
No pain associated unless it causes a tripping hazard.
Associated with pain, like a bee's sting.
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String and Sting Definitions
String
A strand or cord of such material.
Sting
The act of an insect or plant causing sharp pain by piercing the skin.
The bee's sting swelled up almost immediately.
String
Strings Stringed instruments or their players considered as a group.
Sting
A police operation to catch criminals in the act.
The undercover sting resulted in several arrests.
String
A set or series of things connected in a line.
A string of islands stretched across the horizon.
Sting
The pointed part of an insect or plant that might inflict pain or release venom.
She carefully avoided the sting while handling the scorpion.
String
Material made of drawn-out, twisted fiber, used for fastening, tying, or lacing.
Sting
A sharp, pungent taste or smell.
The sting of the chili made him cough.
String
A cord stretched on an instrument and struck, plucked, or bowed to produce tones.
Sting
To pierce or wound painfully with a sharp-pointed structure or organ, as that of certain insects.
String
Strings The section of a band or orchestra composed of stringed instruments, especially violins, violas, cellos, and double basses.
Sting
To cause to feel a sharp, smarting pain
Smoke stinging our eyes.
String
Something resembling a string or appearing as a long, thin line
Limp strings of hair.
Sting
To cause to suffer keenly in the mind or feelings
Those harsh words stung me.
String
A plant fiber.
Sting
To spur on or stimulate by sharp irritation
"A meaningless retort.
The kind someone is stung into making out of sheer exasperation" (Paul Scott).
String
(Physics) One of the extremely minute objects that form the basis of string theory.
Sting
(Slang) To cheat or overcharge.
String
A set of objects threaded together or attached on a string
A string of beads.
Sting
To have, use, or wound with a sharp-pointed structure or organ
Do all bees sting?.
String
A number of objects arranged in a line
A string of islands.
Sting
To cause a sharp, smarting pain
The needle will sting a little.
String
(Computers) A set of consecutive characters.
Sting
The act of stinging.
String
A series of similar or related acts, events, or items
A string of victories.
Sting
The wound or pain caused by stinging.
String
A set of animals, especially racehorses, belonging to a single owner; a stable.
Sting
A sharp, piercing organ or part, often ejecting a venomous secretion, as the modified ovipositor of a bee or wasp or the spine of certain fishes.
String
A scattered group of businesses under a single ownership or management
A string of boutiques.
Sting
A hurtful quality or power
The sting of rejection.
String
A group of players ranked according to ability within a team
He made the second string.
Sting
A keen stimulus or incitement; a goad or spur
The sting of curiosity.
String
A complete game consisting of ten frames in bowling.
Sting
(Slang) A confidence game, especially one implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals.
String
A stringboard.
Sting
A bump left on the skin after having been stung.
Look at this nasty hornet sting: it's turned blue!
String
A stringcourse.
Sting
A puncture made by an insect or arachnid in an attack, usually including the injection of venom.
She died from a bee sting.
String
(Games) The balk line in billiards.
Sting
A pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack.
String
(Informal) A limiting or hidden condition. Often used in the plural
A gift with no strings attached.
Sting
A sharp, localised pain primarily on the epidermis
That plant will give a little sting if you touch it.
String
To fit or furnish with strings or a string
String a guitar.
String a tennis racket.
Sting
(botany) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secretes an acrid fluid, as in nettles.
String
To stretch out or extend
String a wire across a room.
Sting
The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
String
To thread on a string
String popcorn.
Sting
(law enforcement) A police operation in which the police pretend to be criminals in order to catch a criminal.
The criminal gang was caught after a successful sting.
String
To arrange in a line or series
Strung the words into a sentence.
Sting
A short percussive phrase played by a drummer to accent the punchline in a comedy show.
String
To fasten, tie, or hang with a string or strings
String a hammock between trees.
Sting
A brief sequence of music used in films, TV, and video games as a form of scenic punctuation or to identify the broadcasting station.
String
To strip (vegetables) of fibers.
Sting
A support for a wind tunnel model which extends parallel to the air flow.
String
To extend or progress in a string, line, or succession
"We followed the others stringing through the narrow paved paths" (Susan Richards Shreve).
Sting
(figurative) The harmful or painful part of something.
String
(countable) A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together.
Sting
A goad; incitement.
String
(uncountable) Such a structure considered as a substance.
Sting
The concluding point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
String
(countable) A thread
Sting
(ambitransitive) To hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both.
An adder came out of a little heathbush, and it stung a man in the foot.
String
(countable) Any similar long, thin and flexible object.
Sting
To puncture with the stinger.
A mosquito stung me on the arm.
String
(musical instrument) A segment of wire (typically made of plastic or metal) or other material used as vibrating element on a musical instrument.
A violinstring
A bowstring
Sting
To hurt, to be in pain (physically or emotionally).
My hand stings after knocking on the door so long.
Still, it stung when a slightly older acquaintance asked me why I couldn't do any better.
String
(sports) A length of nylon or other material on the head of a racquet.
Sting
(figurative) To cause harm or pain to.
I thought I could park in front of the hotel, but they stung me for five pounds!
String
A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged.
A string of shells or beads
A string of sausages
Sting
Any sharp organ of offense and defense, especially when connected with a poison gland, and adapted to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.
String
(countable) A cohesive substance taking the form of a string.
The string of spittle dangling from his chin was most unattractive
Sting
A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secrets an acrid fluid, as in nettles. The points of these hairs usually break off in the wound, and the acrid fluid is pressed into it.
String
(countable) A series of items or events.
A string of successes
Sting
Anything that gives acute pain, bodily or mental; as, the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach.
The sting of death is sin.
String
(countable) The members of a sports team or squad regarded as most likely to achieve success. (Perhaps metaphorical as the "strings" that hold the squad together.) Often first string, second string etc.
Sting
The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
String
(countable) In various games and competitions, a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.
Sting
A goad; incitement.
String
(collective) A drove of horses, or a group of racehorses kept by one owner or at one stable.
Sting
The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
String
An ordered sequence of text characters stored consecutively in memory and capable of being processed as a single entity.
Sting
To pierce or wound with a sting; as, bees will sting an animal that irritates them; the nettles stung his hands.
String
A stringed instrument.
Sting
To pain acutely; as, the conscience is stung with remorse; to bite.
String
The stringed instruments as a section of an orchestra, especially those played by a bow, or the persons playing those instruments.
Sting
To goad; to incite, as by taunts or reproaches.
String
The conditions and limitations in a contract collectively.
No strings attached
Sting
A kind of pain; something as sudden and painful as being stung;
The sting of death
He felt the stinging of nettles
String
The main object of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics.
Sting
A mental pain or distress;
A pang of conscience
String
(slang) Cannabis or marijuana.
Sting
A painful wound caused by the thrust of an insect's stinger into skin
String
(billiards) Part of the game of billiards, where the order of the play is determined by testing who can get a ball closest to the bottom rail by shooting it onto the end rail.
Sting
A swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property
String
The buttons strung on a wire by which the score is kept.
Sting
Cause a sharp or stinging pain or discomfort;
The sun burned his face
String
The points made in a game of billiards.
Sting
Deliver a sting to;
A bee stung my arm yesterday
String
The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play, as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; also called the string line.
Sting
Saddle with something disagreeable or disadvantageous;
They stuck me with the dinner bill
I was stung with a huge tax bill
String
A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.
Sting
Cause a stinging pain;
The needle pricked his skin
String
(archaic) A fibre, as of a plant; a little fibrous root.
Sting
Cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging;
His remark stung her
String
(archaic) A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
Sting
A keen or sharp mental or emotional pain.
The sting of rejection lasted for weeks.
String
(shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
String
(botany) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericarp of leguminous plants.
The strings of beans
String
(mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.
String
(architecture) A stringcourse.
String
A hoax; a fake story.
String
Synonym of stable
String
(oil drilling) A column of drill pipe that transmits drilling fluid (via the mud pumps) and torque (via the kelly drive or top drive) to the drill bit.
String
(transitive) To put (items) on a string.
You can string these beads on to this cord to make a colorful necklace.
String
(transitive) To put strings on (something).
It is difficult to string a tennis racket properly.
String
(intransitive) To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.
String
To drive the ball against the end of the table and back, in order to determine which player is to open the game.
String
(birdwatching) To deliberately state that a certain bird is present when it is not; to knowingly mislead other birders about the occurrence of a bird, especially a rarity; to misidentify a common bird as a rare species.
String
A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string.
Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string.
String
A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments.
String
A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.
String
The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or violin; specifically (pl.), the stringed instruments of an orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as, the strings took up the theme.
Me softer airs befit, and softer stringsOf lute, or viol still.
String
The line or cord of a bow.
He twangs the grieving string.
String
A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root.
Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom.
String
A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
The string of his tongue was loosed.
String
An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
String
The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans.
String
A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.
String
Same as Stringcourse.
String
The points made in a game.
String
In various indoor games, a score or tally, sometimes, as in American billiard games, marked by buttons threaded on a string or wire.
String
The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; - called also string line.
String
A hoax; a trumped-up or "fake" story.
String
A sequence of similar objects or events sufficiently close in time or space to be perceived as a group; a string of accidents; a string of restaurants on a highway.
String
A one-dimensional string-like mathematical object used as a means of representing the properties of fundamental particles in string theory, one theory of particle physics; such hypothetical objects are one-dimensional and very small (10-33 cm) but exist in more than four spatial dimensions, and have various modes of vibration. Considering particles as strings avoids some of the problems of treating particles as points, and allows a unified treatment of gravity along with the other three forces (electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force) in a manner consistent with quantum mechanics. See also string theory.
String
To furnish with strings; as, to string a violin.
Has not wise nature strung the legs and feetWith firmest nerves, designed to walk the street?
String
To put in tune the strings of, as a stringed instrument, in order to play upon it.
For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung,That not a mountain rears its head unsung.
String
To put on a string; to file; as, to string beads.
String
To make tense; to strengthen.
Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood.
String
To hoax; josh; jolly; often used with along; as, we strung him along all day until he realized we were kidding.
String
To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.
String
A lightweight cord
String
Stringed instruments that are played with a bow;
The strings played superlatively well
String
A tightly stretched cord of wire or gut, which makes sound when plucked, struck, or bowed
String
A sequentially ordered set of things or events or ideas in which each successive member is related to the preceding;
A string of islands
Train of mourners
A train of thought
String
A linear sequence of symbols (characters or words or phrases)
String
A tie consisting of a cord that goes through a seam around an opening;
He pulled the drawstring and closed the bag
String
A collection of objects threaded on a single strand
String
A necklace made by a stringing objects together;
A string of beads
A strand of pearls
String
Thread on or as if on a string;
String pearls on a string
The child drew glass beads on a string
Thread dried cranberries
String
Add as if on a string;
String these ideas together
String up these songs and you'll have a musical
String
Move or come along
String
Stretch out or arrange like a string
String
String together; tie or fasten with a string;
String the package
String
Remove the stringy parts of;
String beans
String
Provide with strings;
String my guitar
String
A thin cord or thick thread used for tying or threading.
She wore a necklace made of beads threaded on a string.
String
Characters or symbols in a sequence, especially in programming.
The programmer initialized the string with the user's name.
String
The cord of a musical instrument.
He plucked the guitar string to produce a melodic note.
String
A group or a sequence in sports, especially in a team's lineup.
The second string team practiced in the afternoon.
FAQs
Is a "string" always made of thread or fiber?
No, in contexts like programming, a "string" refers to a sequence of characters, not a physical thread.
Can "string" be used in a musical context?
Yes, "string" refers to the cord of musical instruments like guitars or violins, and also to a category of instruments like "string quartet".
Do all bees sting?
While many bee species can sting, male bees (drones) do not have stingers.
In programming, why is "string" important?
In programming, "strings" hold and manipulate text, making them essential for tasks like user input, messaging, and data processing.
How can one treat a bee sting?
Immediate remedies include removing the stinger, applying a cold pack, and taking antihistamines or pain relievers. Seek medical attention for severe reactions.
What does "pulling strings" mean?
"Pulling strings" is an idiom meaning to use one's influence or connections to gain advantage.
Can a "sting" refer to something other than physical pain?
Yes, "sting" can also imply a sharp emotional hurt, as in "the sting of rejection".
Is a "sting operation" related to insects?
No, a "sting operation" is a deceptive operation by law enforcement to catch someone in the act of a crime.
Can "string" refer to a series or sequence?
Yes, "string" can denote a series of items or events, like "a string of pearls" or "a string of victories".
What's the primary purpose of a scorpion's sting?
Scorpions use their sting primarily for defense and to subdue prey.
How are "strings" used in mathematics?
In mathematics, "strings" often refer to sequences or combinations of symbols or numbers.
Is the "sting" of some plants harmful?
Some plants, like nettles, have stinging hairs that can cause skin irritation, but it's generally not dangerous unless one is allergic.
Are all stings venomous?
Not all stings deliver venom, but many, like bee or wasp stings, do introduce venom, causing pain and swelling.
Can "string" have a sports-related meaning?
Yes, in sports, especially in team lineups, "second string" or "third string" refer to backup players or teams.
How can one differentiate a bee sting from a wasp sting?
Both can be painful, but bee stings usually leave a stinger behind, while wasp stings often cause sharper pain and might sting multiple times.
What does "no strings attached" imply?
The idiom "no strings attached" means something is given without any hidden obligations or conditions.
In databases, how are "strings" typically stored?
In databases, "strings" are stored as sequences of characters, often with a predefined maximum length.
Do all stinging insects produce honey?
No, only honeybees produce honey. Other stinging insects, like wasps or hornets, do not produce honey.
What's a "null string" in computing?
A "null string" in computing is a string with no characters, often denoting the absence of data.
Which animals, besides insects, can sting?
Some animals, like stingrays or certain types of fish, have barbs or spines that can sting.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Aimie CarlsonAimie Carlson, holding a master's degree in English literature, is a fervent English language enthusiast. She lends her writing talents to Difference Wiki, a prominent website that specializes in comparisons, offering readers insightful analyses that both captivate and inform.
