painful

painful

adjective

Definition of PAINFUL

1

causing or feeling bodily pain <her broken arm was too painful for her to go on the trip>

Synonyms aching, achy, afflictive, hurting, nasty, sore

Related Words agonizing, excruciating, torturous; damaging, deleterious, detrimental, harmful, hurtful, injurious, noxious, pernicious; raw, tender; bleeding, burning, chafing, cramping, festering; itching, nagging, pinching, pricking, prickling, smarting, stinging; inflamed (also enflamed), swollen; grievous, severe, threatening, wounding

Near Antonyms curative, healing, helping, remedial

Antonyms indolent, painless

2

hard to accept or bear especially emotionally <it's been very painful to accept that my father is gone forever>

Synonyms afflicting, agonizing, cruel, excruciating, galling, grievous, harrowing, harsh, heartrending, hurtful, painful, tormenting, torturous

Related Words insufferable, insupportable, intolerable, unacceptable, unbearable, unendurable, unsupportable; appalling, awful, bad, dire, dreadful, ghastly, horrible, miserable, nasty, rotten, severe, terrible, vile, wretched; acute, extreme, intense, piercing

Near Antonyms bearable, endurable, supportable, sustainable, tolerable; livable (also liveable), sufferable, survivable; acceptable, allowable, reasonable

Antonyms gratifying, pleasing, sweet