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.
It is painful to have to write about Catherine O’Hara, so alive and lively a presence, in the past tense.
From Los Angeles Times
He watched his grandfather move, with painful stiffness, toward the house.
From Literature
Since their painful semi-final exit at the last World Cup in the Caribbean, England have found their feet in the shortest format, winning four series, drawing two and losing just one.
From Barron's
“The violence and loss of life in our community is incredibly painful,” Fiddelke said in the video.
But staying friends with an ex can be equally as painful.
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.
