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

The Real Potential Of AI The measure of any solution’s success lies not in how robust its AI is but in how many pain points the platform solves. — Garret Gray, Forbes.com, 24 Sep. 2026

The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters. — Lisa Mascaro, Chicago Tribune, 24 Sep. 2026

The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters, who were surveyed over two weeks starting in mid-August. — Ali Swenson, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2026

Over half of retailers surveyed said self-service solutions are resolving key customer pain points related to store navigation, product selection and price verification. — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 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