Painful

/ˈpeɪn.fl̩/ · adjective

Meaning

Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental..

Definitions by Sense

1. Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.
2. Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person).
3. Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious.
4. (archaic) Painstaking; careful; industrious.
5. (informal) Very bad, poor.

Example Sentences

In a 2008 case report from India, doctors described removing a giant tonsillolith that was making it painful for a young patient to swallow.

A rackingly painful disease that affects the joints and finally cripples, it is caused by an imbalance of uric acid in the system.

The men bestow their times in fishing, hunting, warres, and such manlike exercises, scorning to be seene in any woman-like exercise, which is the cause that the women be very painefull, and the men often idle.

To all these painful labourers Johnson shewed a never-ceasing kindness, so far as they stood in need of it.

For twenty generations, here was the earthly arena where painful living men worked out their life-wrestle

His violin playing is painful.

Synonyms for painful

Antonyms for painful

Related Words

Word Forms

• painfuller
• more painful
• painfullest
• most painful
• painfull

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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