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
- overpainful adjective
- overpainfully adverb
- overpainfulness noun
- painfully adverb
- painfulness noun
- unpainful adjective
- unpainfully adverb
Etymology
Origin of 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.
Hughes retreated slightly, bracing for another painful collision by using his body as a barrier.
From Los Angeles Times
Speaking in an Instagram video on Monday,, external she paid tribute to her surgeon for saving her leg and described the injury as "the most extreme, painful and challenging" of her career.
From BBC
But investors beware: The race to increase production risks creating an eventual glut of hardware and a painful crash.
From Barron's
"It was very painful, it felt like you've been hit by a bus," she said.
From BBC
Wales' dismal run continued with a painful defeat that was summed up by Tomos Williams giving away a costly penalty for a croc roll.
From BBC
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.
