painful

[ peyn-fuhl ]
See synonyms for: painfulpainfullypainfulness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. affected with, causing, or characterized by pain: a painful wound; a painful night; a painful memory.

  2. laborious; exacting; difficult: a painful life.

  1. Archaic. painstaking; careful.

Origin of painful

1
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at pain, -ful

Other words for painful

Opposites for painful

Other words from painful

  • pain·ful·ly, adverb
  • pain·ful·ness, noun
  • o·ver·pain·ful, adjective
  • o·ver·pain·ful·ly, adverb
  • o·ver·pain·ful·ness, noun
  • un·pain·ful, adjective
  • un·pain·ful·ly, adverb

Words Nearby painful

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use painful in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for painful

painful

/ (ˈpeɪnfʊl) /


adjective
  1. causing pain; distressing: a painful duty

  2. affected with pain: a painful leg

  1. tedious or difficult

  2. informal extremely bad: a painful performance

Derived forms of painful

  • painfully, adverb
  • painfulness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012