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.
For investors enthralled by soaring corporate profits, headlines about the painful consequences from climate change are largely just background noise, experts say.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Fast forward a fortnight amid some very rapid and painful deleveraging, and the index now stands at 6813 after a stealth rally of 21%.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
This clever tale is most satisfying when Ms. McTiernan brings that painful conundrum to life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Unified are painful cuts, including the possibility of more than 6,000 job losses, needed to offset a future deficit projected to reach as much as $3.6 billion if the cuts are not made.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The sunlight glances off the glaciers, creating painful flashes of light.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
