Definition

1. Noun:

   • Physical suffering or discomfort: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
   • Mental or emotional suffering: A state of emotional distress or unhappiness.
   • A source of annoyance or trouble: A person or thing that is very annoying or causes difficulty.

2. Verb:

   • To cause physical pain: To inflict bodily suffering or discomfort.
   • To cause emotional distress: To make someone feel sad, upset, or hurt.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Physical):

  • She felt a sharp pain in her knee.
  • The medicine helps to relieve the pain.

• Noun (Emotional):

  • He spoke about the pain of losing his father.
  • Her harsh words caused him great pain.

• Noun (Annoyance):

  • That constant noise is a real pain.
  • He can be such a pain when he's in a bad mood.

• Verb:

  • It pains me to admit that I was wrong.
  • My back is paining me again today.

Advanced Usage

• "To be a pain in the neck": To be very annoying or troublesome.

  • That repetitive task is a real pain in the neck.

• "To take pains": To make a special effort or take great care to do something.

  • She took great pains to ensure the report was accurate.

• "On/under pain of": With the threat of a specified punishment if one disobeys.

  • They were forbidden to speak, on pain of death.

Variants and Related Words

• Painful (adj): Causing physical or emotional pain.

  • It was a painful memory.

• Painless (adj): Not causing or involving pain.

  • The procedure was quick and painless.

• Painstaking (adj): Done with great care and thoroughness.

  • He did a painstaking analysis of the data.

Synonyms

• Noun (Suffering): Ache, agony, discomfort, distress, hurt, soreness, torment.
• Noun (Annoyance): Bother, nuisance, irritation, hassle.
• Verb: Ache, hurt, distress, torment, trouble.

Phrasal Verbs

(The word 'pain' is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)

Related Idioms

• "No pain, no gain": You have to work hard or endure difficulty to achieve something.

  • The training is tough, but remember: no pain, no gain.

• "A pain in the ass/butt/backside" (informal, vulgar): Similar to "a pain in the neck," meaning a source of extreme annoyance.

  • Filling out all these forms is a pain in the ass.

Noun

1. something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness
   • washing dishes was a nuisance before we got a dish washer
   • a bit of a bother
   • he's not a friend, he's an infliction
2. a bothersome annoying person
   • that kid is a terrible pain
3. a somatic sensation of acute discomfort
   • as the intensity increased the sensation changed from tickle to pain
4. emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid
   • the pain of loneliness
5. a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder
   • the patient developed severe pain and distension

Verb

1. cause emotional anguish or make miserable
   • It pains me to see my children not being taught well in school
2. cause bodily suffering to and make sick or indisposed