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.
Without the right support, what starts as unconscious mimicry of peers’ behavior in childhood can exact a painful toll as time goes on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Volkswagen's "workers have already to accept hefty and painful cuts and now are getting another slap in the face," Christiane Benner told the Wirtschaftswoche weekly.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
“We’ve done a lot of zigzags, some very painful, some hard but joyful,” Bancel said in an interview the day after the results were announced.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
After a long, painful downdraft that erased more some $2.2 trillion in value, cryptocurrencies — and, notably, bitcoin — have come roaring back this week.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Here was yet another painful illustration of just how little control Kennedy had over all the different ways that war could begin.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
