pained

1 of 2

adjective

ˈpānd 

1

: feeling pain : hurt

2

: expressing or involving pain

a pained expression

with pained surprise

pained

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of pain entry 2

Examples of pained in a Sentence

Adjective

She wore a pained expression on her face.

He truly looked pained when he heard the news.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Some express a pained desire for the return of the PowerPoint slides. — Dónal Gill, The Dial, 8 Sep. 2026

The actors speak quietly, as if fearful of being overheard, whether or not there is anyone around to hear, and often regard one another with pained or stunned expressions. — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026

Cordell, a polite man wearing fatigues and a pained expression, sat nearby. — Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026

A lot of this work is almost unreadable now, the pained efforts of young eggheads twisting themselves into rhetorical knots over the moral conundrums posed by real-world applications of Marxist principles. — Literary Hub, 21 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pained

• abstained
• arraigned
• attained
• bloodstained
• campaigned
• complained
• constrained
• contained
• curtained
• detained
• disdained
• distrained