painful
Americanadjective
-
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.
adjective
-
causing pain; distressing
a painful duty
-
affected with pain
a painful leg
-
tedious or difficult
-
informal extremely bad
a painful performance
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of painful
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at pain, -ful
Explanation
Anything painful hurts a lot — either physically or emotionally. Your sprained ankle may be painful, but so is your broken heart. When something is physically painful, it hurts your body in some way, like a painful burn or a painful paper cut. Other things hurt just as much, but in an emotional way, like a painful separation from your cat when you go to summer camp. You can also use this adjective informally to mean really bad: "The wedding band's attempt at 'Stairway to Heaven' was just painful."
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.
"It's very, very hard. It's very painful", Camara said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Today's various travel restrictions, Kellogg said, "bring back memories of that painful era".
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
While it is painful and frustrating, shingles rarely leads to hospitalizations and causes fewer than 100 deaths a year in the U.S., according to the CDC.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Right away, we’re squarely in the realm of heartbreak and loss, a state of mind where memories are painful but all you have left.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Mr. Dannenberg said that the circumstances of his son’s death were especially painful to him because he was a boy who hated tight spaces and who died in the trenches.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
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.
