pain point

noun

plural pain points

: a persistent or recurring problem (as with a product or service) that frequently inconveniences or annoys customers

When you're in an established market, you have an established customer; their needs and pain points are clearly laid out on your competitors' review sites.

—Billy Polson

Customer service, which has been a pain point of bigger banks for years, is also improving in that it's getting faster and requires little from you.

—Chris Welch

broadly : something that is a recurring source of trouble, annoyance, or distress

One generation's parenting gospel often becomes another's pain point.

—Lynda Lin Grigsby

Meanwhile, ironing is a pain point with her boyfriend because she loves the look of a crisply pressed men's shirt. "He never irons his shirts and it drives me crazy," she [Elyse Moody] says.

—Jura Konicus

Examples of pain point in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Real insight from your audience is what will drive innovation and expansion in your company, and the mentality must be centered around their pain points and how your company’s service or product can serve them effectively. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026

Every season of Industry has refined the series, asked more of its stars, and accurately spit at some of our culture’s biggest pain points. — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 8 July 2026

Pickle Robot’s Physical AI unloaders tackle the dock door bottleneck, which is a stubborn pain point in inbound logistics, while AmbiStack handles the structured, high-volume stacking that feeds downstream operations. — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 6 July 2026

Along with a loss of autonomy, more traffic, and insufficient office space, many are pointing to gas prices and childcare costs as significant pain points. — Anne Ewbank, Sacbee.com, 1 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1986, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pain point

• adjoint
• anoint
• appoint
• checkpoint
• conjoint
• disjoint
• endpoint
• gunpoint
• midpoint
• nonpoint
• pinpoint
• standpoint