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View synonyms for painful

painful

[ peyn-fuhl ]

adjective

  1. affected with, causing, or characterized by pain:

    a painful wound; a painful night; a painful memory.

    Synonyms: excruciating, agonizing

  2. laborious; exacting; difficult:

    a painful life.

    Synonyms: arduous

    Antonyms: easy

  3. Archaic. painstaking; careful.


painful

/ ˈpeɪnfʊl /

adjective

  1. causing pain; distressing

    a painful duty

  2. affected with pain

    a painful leg

  3. tedious or difficult
  4. informal.
    extremely bad

    a painful performance

“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
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Derived Forms

  • ˈpainfully, adverb
  • ˈpainfulness, noun
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Other Words From

  • painful·ly adverb
  • painful·ness noun
  • over·painful adjective
  • over·painful·ly adverb
  • over·painful·ness noun
  • un·painful adjective
  • un·painful·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of painful1

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; pain, -ful
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Example Sentences

These two women didn't ask for this grief, and Gaetz's denials and other obstructive behavior have made this already painful process worse for them.

From Salon

"We hope it's possible to get ahead of the issue of failing weed control on the research and development side, because the cost of waiting until everything fails could be painful."

Independence had come with the painful partition that created Pakistan, sparking one of history's largest and bloodiest migrations.

From BBC

Trump, as a candidate and as president-elect, has said he wants a speedy end to the fighting, while Ukraine fears it will be forced to make painful concessions, including ceding territory Russia has already seized.

There is no doubt that job losses and restructuring on their home soil will be a painful process for German manufacturers such as Volkswagen, and chemicals firm BASF, which has also warned of cuts.

From BBC

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Paine, Thomaspain in the neck