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

Other Word Forms

• painfully adverb
• painfulness noun
• overpainful adjective
• overpainfully adverb
• overpainfulness noun
• unpainful adjective
• unpainfully adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of painful¹

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

Example Sentences

"It's very painful, your muscles are constantly working," said Ms Hastings.

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For a company that made a £2.5bn profit in the last financial year, and which is owned by the Indian giant Tata Group, the losses should be painful but not fatal.

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There was certainly no chance of Newcastle underestimating Union as the visitors looked to bounce back from the weekend's painful defeat against Arsenal.

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That lack of accountability, that lack of vulnerability, that denial is something we all have seen when someone’s going through something really painful.

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"I used to have heavy and painful periods. I'd have to go home from school because of it," she said.

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Related Words

• agonizing 
• arduous 
• awful 
• difficult 
• dire 
• distasteful 
• distressing www.thesaurus.com
• excruciating 
• hard 
• harrowing 
• heart-wrenching 
• hurtful 
• severe 
• tedious 
• terrible 
• troublesome 
• uncomfortable 
• unpleasant