1
as in sore
causing or feeling bodily pain
a very painful toothache her broken arm was too painful for her to go on the trip
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in harsh
hard to accept or bear especially emotionally
it's been very painful to accept that my father is gone forever
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of painful
One particularly painful memory involves Megan unplugging his PS2 — a sentimental console that had belonged to his late father.
—
Ashley Vega, People.com, 8 July 2025
The waiting was painful, but Heather jumped back into her work on the West Coast and tried to put it out of her mind.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 7 July 2025
This came from painful lessons learned in Xiaomi’s early smartphone-producing days, when external suppliers would cut off components unpredictably.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 7 July 2025
Their venom, similar to a bee’s or wasp’s, results in a painful, itchy pustule or blister on the skin.
—Gareth McGrath, USA Today, 28 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for painful
Ashley Vega, People.com, 8 July 2025
The waiting was painful, but Heather jumped back into her work on the West Coast and tried to put it out of her mind.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 7 July 2025
This came from painful lessons learned in Xiaomi’s early smartphone-producing days, when external suppliers would cut off components unpredictably.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 7 July 2025
Their venom, similar to a bee’s or wasp’s, results in a painful, itchy pustule or blister on the skin.
—Gareth McGrath, USA Today, 28 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for painful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for painful
Adjective
-
Richardson, who was dealing with a sore right ankle during summer league practices in Orlando, exited early in the third quarter, but was able to return in the final frame.—
Jason Beede,
The Orlando Sentinel,
11 July 2025
-
Chisholm missed five weeks toward the beginning of the season with a right oblique strain, then sat out of Sunday’s Subway Series finale at Citi Field for a sore right shoulder.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
The mask fully blocks out the harsh cabin lighting and that inevitable sunrise glow before landing.—
Samantha Leal,
Travel + Leisure,
10 July 2025
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Before Getting Started When cleaning your oven, try to avoid using harsh oven cleaners or using the self-cleaning feature.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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Braxton shares an aching need to be vulnerable only to realize by album’s end that such unions can result in horrible betrayal, her words of lament surrounded by swelling, lush orchestration.—
Clarence A. Haynes
July 3,
Literary Hub,
3 July 2025
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Coupled with a story line about digital avatars who seek to replace the humans in whose images they were shaped, the movie possesses an aching sense of oblivion.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
27 June 2025
Adjective
-
Each of us should demand our local leaders challenge every one of the immoral and cruel state laws and the Gestapo-like raids and inhumane detainments carried out by ICE agents.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
15 July 2025
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Even critics who considered his policies cruel and racist – and there were many – admitted that behind the bluster there was the charm of a true believer.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
12 July 2025
Adjective
-
Teddi Mellencamp has finally emerged on the healthy side of a torturous, years-long battle with cancer.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
9 July 2025
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Working out was a chore or—even worse—torturous penance for failing to become the impossible ever-shrinking woman.—
Julie Beck,
The Atlantic,
3 July 2025
Adjective
-
That story isn’t about the nurse so much as the patients who saw their excruciating pain systematically ignored, and Burton conveys them as a kind of Greek chorus, individual voices cycling in and out to conjure a sense of collective experience.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
-
Simon’s excruciating back pain previously forced him to cancel his June 27 and 28 shows in Philadelphia.—
Rachel Flynn,
People.com,
3 July 2025
Adjective
-
And to cope with the agonizing pain of childbirth, Victoria enthusiastically embraced chloroform.—
Sam Kelly,
Time,
8 July 2025
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The New York Yankees, who won the 2024 American League pennant before losing a five-game Fall Classic to the Los Angeles Dodgers, fell out of first place on Independence Day weekend as an agonizing slump seemed to grip the entire team.—
Dan Schlossberg,
Forbes.com,
7 July 2025
Adjective
-
There were no bitter comments blaming liberal forest-management policies.—
Nick Allardice,
Time,
10 July 2025
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Public records show the home belongs to former Councilman Bill Sanders, who ran for mayor and lost last year after a years-long history of bitter clashes with other city officials and staff.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
9 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Painful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/painful. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
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