painful

[ peyn-fuhl ]

/ ˈpeɪn fəl /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR painful ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

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

laborious; exacting; difficult: a painful life.

Archaic. painstaking; careful.

Origin of painful

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

SYNONYMS FOR painful

1 distressing, torturing, agonizing, tormenting, excruciating.

2 arduous.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR painful ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR painful

2 easy.

SEE ANTONYMS FOR painful ON THESAURUS.COM

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

pain-pleasure principle, paine, paine, thomas, pained, painesville, painful, painkiller, painless, pains, painstaking, paint

Example sentences from the Web for painfully

At once uproarious, raw, and painfully honest, “Discord” unveils the many virtues and vices of these towering icons.

The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson (And Tolstoy and Dickens) |Samuel Fragoso |October 26, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It was a painfully slow process and, worse yet, not a lot of fun.

You Can Look It Up: The Wikipedia Story |Walter Isaacson |October 19, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
At the moment, that process is very complicated and painfully slow.

Air Force Pilots Say They're Flying Blind Against ISIS |Dave Majumdar |October 10, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The wife he lost is painfully near as this riveting book gets underway.

Mexico City: Francisco Goldman’s Other Lost Love |Jason Berry |September 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Instead, we see there is a painfully innocent happiness to Rene about her spiritual “transformation.”

Mississippi Is Hell for These Lesbians |Emily Shire |August 8, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
I was ready to do as she prescribed; she affected me painfully, she had given me a "turn," and I wanted to get away from her.

Louisa Pallant |Henry James
The old boy beamed at me over his glasses as he vented a horrible chuckle; didn't seem to notice how painfully shocked I was.

The Haunted Pajamas |Francis Perry Elliott
He went over the figures again, painfully printed on the back of an envelope picked from the kitchen trash-basket.

Mountain |Clement Wood
The contrast between the actual Lady Wychcote and the "reasonable woman" surmised by Carfew struck her as so painfully droll.

Shadows of Flames |Amelie Rives
The effect of this on the luxury-loving Darfurians was painfully evident.

Fire and Sword in the Sudan |Rudolf C. Slatin

British Dictionary definitions for painfully

painful

/ (ˈpeɪnfʊl) /

adjective

causing pain; distressing a painful duty

affected with pain a painful leg

tedious or difficult

informal extremely bad a painful performance

Derived forms of painful

painfully, adverb painfulness, noun

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

painful

adjective

Origin of painful

SYNONYMS FOR painful

ANTONYMS FOR painful

OTHER WORDS FROM painful

Words nearby painful

Example sentences from the Web for painfully

British Dictionary definitions for painfully

adjective

Derived forms of painful

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

painful

adjective

Origin of painful

SYNONYMS FOR painful

ANTONYMS FOR painful

OTHER WORDS FROM painful

Words nearby painful

Words related to painfully

Example sentences from the Web for painfully

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for painfully

adjective

Derived forms of painful

British Dictionary definitions for painfully