traumatic
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or produced by a trauma or wound.
-
adapted to the cure of wounds.
-
psychologically painful.
Other Word Forms
- traumatically adverb
- untraumatic adjective
Etymology
Origin of traumatic
First recorded in 1650–60; from Late Latin traumaticus, from Greek traumatikós “pertaining to wounds,” from traumat- (stem of traûma trauma ) + -ikos -ic
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 that time, we needed something separate from the fire — something that the fire couldn’t touch, it was too traumatic to keep revisiting what we’d lost, so our work became our peace and our escape.”
From Los Angeles Times
Now Joan, who lives in South Derbyshire, wants restorative justice to be offered routinely to victims and perpetrators of traumatic crimes, and she is convinced her son would approve.
From BBC
Eleven’s goodbye scene with Mike felt really perfectly full-circle and not traumatic and left the viewers with a question, but still hopeful and satisfied.
From Los Angeles Times
The family was helped by the fire service to retrieve medication from the flat, but seeing the damage was traumatic, said Ms Wood.
From BBC
How long was the child exposed to the traumatic events?
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.
