painful
/'peinful/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Causing physical discomfort or suffering: Describes something that inflicts bodily pain or hurt.
- Causing emotional distress or mental suffering: Describes something that is emotionally difficult, upsetting, or distressing.
- Requiring considerable effort; laborious or tedious: Describes a process that is difficult, slow, or unpleasant to endure.
Examples of Usage
- Causing physical pain:
- The injection was quite painful.
- She has a painful cut on her finger.
- Causing emotional distress:
- It was a painful memory to recall.
- Watching the documentary about the war was emotionally painful.
- Laborious or unpleasant:
- The painful process of filling out all the paperwork took hours.
- Progress on the project has been painful and slow.
Advanced Usage
- "A painful sight/truth": Something that is very difficult or upsetting to see or accept.
- The state of the abandoned animals was a painful sight.
- He finally had to face the painful truth about his finances.
- "Painfully slow/obvious": Used as an adverb to emphasize an extreme degree of slowness or obviousness.
- The queue moved painfully slowly.
- His lie was painfully obvious to everyone.
Variants and Related Words
- Painfully (adverb): In a manner that causes pain or distress; extremely.
- He was painfully aware of his mistake.
- Painlessness (noun): The state of being without pain.
- The dentist promised painlessness during the procedure.
Synonyms
- Aching: Throbbing with pain.
- Agonizing: Causing extreme physical or mental pain.
- Distressing: Causing anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
- Excruciating: Intensely painful.
- Sore: Painful or aching.
- Unpleasant: Not pleasant; causing discomfort.
Antonyms
- Painless: Causing no physical or emotional pain.
- Pleasant: Giving a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment.
- Comforting: Serving to alleviate a person's feelings of grief or distress.
- Soothing: Reducing pain or discomfort.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- A painful subject: A topic that causes distress or is difficult to discuss.
- His failed business venture is a painful subject for him.
- To be a painful reminder: Something that causes one to remember a distressing event or fact.
- The old photograph was a painful reminder of her loss.
Adjective
- causing physical discomfort; they can be very painful"
- bites of black flies are more than irritating
- exceptionally bad or displeasing
- atrocious taste
- abominable workmanship
- an awful voice
- dreadful manners
- a painful performance
- terrible handwriting
- an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room
- causing misery or pain or distress
- it was a sore trial to him
- the painful process of growing up
- causing physical or psychological pain
- worked with painful slowness