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.
At the Worlds, she struggled with a painful throat and was waking at unusual times in the night.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
But from “Baywatch” to this summer’s “Masters of the Universe,” we’ve endured plenty of painful illustrations of the trend’s downside: If what you’re rebooting is so bad, why make us sit through it?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
A pullback in AI-related investment or asset valuations would likely be disproportionately painful for Asia, the IMF said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Asian stocks plunged Thursday as tech firms suffered another painful rout after forecast-topping US inflation data fuelled expectations the Federal Reserve will have to ramp interest rates higher.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
“I think”—the words sounded hard formed and painful in her throat—“he’s the last.”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
