Synonyms of pain

pain 1 of 2

noun

ˈpān 

1

as in ache

a sharp unpleasant sensation usually felt in some specific part of the body

the child was crying because of a pain in her knee

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ache
• pang
• tingle
• sting
• stitch
• soreness
• swelling
• agony
• twinge
• prick
• discomfort
• sore
• suffering
• headache
• tenderness
• shoot
• anguish
• distress
• misery
• inflammation
• smart
• throe
• injury
• hurt
• torture
• torment
• harm
• sufferance
• toothache
• backache
• damage
• affliction
• detriment
• colic
• complaint
• gripe
• stomachache
• earache
• bellyache
• charley horse

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ease
• comfort
• easiness

2

as in distress

a state of great suffering of body or mind

a sprained ankle caused him great pain for a week

Synonyms & Similar Words

• distress
• agony
• anguish
• misery
• discomfort
• torment
• torture
• hurt
• sorrow
• tribulation
• sadness
• pang
• woe
• excruciation
• heartbreak
• travail
• hardship
• rack
• difficulty
• ache
• affliction
• strait(s)
• trouble
• danger
• heartache
• unhappiness
• emergency
• soreness
• cross
• crucible
• twinge
• trial
• joylessness
• stitch
• jeopardy
• pinch
• smarting
• rigor
• throe
• asperity

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• relief
• comfort
• consolation
• solace
• ease
• alleviation
• security
• peace
• assuagement
• well-being

3

as in care

pains plural strict attentiveness to what one is doing

asked the movers to take pains to be sure that they didn't damage anything while moving the furniture

Synonyms & Similar Words

• care
• carefulness
• attention
• scrupulousness
• conscientiousness
• observation
• closeness
• meticulousness
• meticulosity
• heed
• concentration
• watchfulness
• observance
• focus
• heedfulness
• responsibility
• effort
• vigilance
• mindfulness
• alertness
• trouble
• precision
• advertency
• painstaking
• punctiliousness
• advertence
• exactness
• bother
• irreproachability
• irreproachableness
• particularity
• dutifulness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• negligence
• inattentiveness
• heedlessness
• inattention
• inadvertence
• inadvertency
• inobservance

4

as in work

pains plural the active use of energy in producing a result

she was at pains to reassure us that everything would be fine

Synonyms & Similar Words

• work
• labor
• exertion
• effort
• trouble
• expenditure
• sweat
• while
• power
• toil
• drudgery
• elbow grease
• strain
• muscle
• energy
• travail
• might
• try
• slog
• dint
• trial
• grind
• stab
• attempt
• endeavor
• force
• pass
• essay
• go
• puissance
• shot
• whack
• fling

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ease
• facility
• smoothness
• fluency
• inertia
• inaction
• inactivity
• laziness
• indolence
• idleness
• adroitness
• dormancy
• quiescence
• languor

5

as in nuisance

one who is obnoxiously annoying

sometimes that child, who apparently never tires of asking questions, can be such a pain

Synonyms & Similar Words

• nuisance
• annoyance
• pest
• headache
• annoyer
• tease
• pain in the neck
• bother
• gadfly
• persecutor
• teaser
• gnawer
• plague
• nudnik
• torturer
• tormentor
• interrupter
• heckler
• harrier
• harasser
• hassle
• molester

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• charmer
• comforter
• soother
• smoothy
• solacer

pain

2 of 2

verb

as in to ache

to feel or cause physical pain

my poor head was paining so from all that racket

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ache
• hurt
• throb
• tingle
• sting
• swell
• cramp
• anguish
• smart
• bite
• itch
• bleed
• torment
• suffer
• fester
• burn
• pinch
• nag
• torture
• rack
• twinge
• chafe
• agonize
• afflict
• pound
• harrow

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of pain

Noun

Nobody tries to diagnose their own chest pain by lying still and concentrating harder. — Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

Edwidge Danticat probes the ideas of safety, home, and survival all while examining the consequences of not speaking about one’s pain. — Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 4 Aug. 2026

Verb

His disaffection baffles his acquaintances and pains his tubercular wife (a superb Quinn Jackson), whose doctor (Lambert Tamin) has only contempt for her husband’s agonizing. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026

Today, mindful of the most recent wars, mindful of all the atrocities com-mitted, this happy fantasy has lost its charm, death has lost its innocence, pain its magnitude, irreversible. — Literary Hub, 31 Mar. 2026

Phrases Containing pain

• pain in the neck