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painful
[ peyn-fuhl ]
adjective
- affected with, causing, or characterized by pain:
a painful wound; a painful night; a painful memory.
Synonyms: excruciating, agonizing
- laborious; exacting; difficult:
a painful life.
Synonyms: arduous
Antonyms: easy
- Archaic. painstaking; careful.
painful
/ ˈpeɪnfʊl /
adjective
- causing pain; distressing
a painful duty
- affected with pain
a painful leg
- tedious or difficult
- informal.extremely bad
a painful performance
Derived Forms
- ˈpainfully, adverb
- ˈpainfulness, noun
Other Words From
- painful·ly adverb
- painful·ness noun
- over·painful adjective
- over·painful·ly adverb
- over·painful·ness noun
- un·painful adjective
- un·painful·ly adverb
Word History and Origins
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.
"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.
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.
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