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

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

Co-sourcing is most effective when it’s aimed at solving specific pain points, not just plugging generic staffing gaps. —Paul Peterson, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2025

If your bad knees are your number-one pain point, a knee massager could be worth the splurge. —Sara Coughlin, SELF, 18 Aug. 2025

The real pain point, according to Sherry Mitchell-Bruker, a hydrologist and president of Friends of Lake Monroe, is the accumulation of contaminants coming in from every direction. —Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 18 Aug. 2025

While there are plenty of practical and heartwarming reasons for a parent to call their child by a middle name, lots of commenters who go by their middle names were very vocal about the pain points that often accompany the practice. —Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 16 Aug. 2025

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