as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief
painfully she recounted the difficult relationship she had with her mother
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Recent Examples of painfully
The Battle of Karbala — where a grandson of the Prophet Mohammad died defying tyranny — feels painfully present for residents of Nabatieh as Israel continues to occupy southern Lebanon.
—
Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2026
Iranian officials are also painfully aware that their country was bombed during previous periods of negotiations with the US since the war that broke out in late February.
—Lou Robinson, CNN Money, 19 June 2026
It’s composed largely of her brilliant, almost painfully intimate essays, originally published in The New Yorker, about the fraught dynamics between mothers and daughters.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 17 June 2026
Your brain becomes foggy and every movement feels painfully slow.
—Eva Steinwald, CNBC, 16 June 2026
The effect of Gaza on these particular swing voters lingers painfully in the thoughts of Harris’s most ardent supporters.
—Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026
Data, Not Models, Is The Bottleneck Companies that invested (sometimes painfully) in clean, governed and accessible data two or three years ago are seeing that investment pay compounding dividends today.
—Irfan Khan, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026
That trait becomes painfully clear when talk turns to the musical Brothers he’s lost in the last decade.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2026
Tuesday night’s theme was painfully redundant for the Giants (27-41).
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 10 June 2026
Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2026
Iranian officials are also painfully aware that their country was bombed during previous periods of negotiations with the US since the war that broke out in late February.
—Lou Robinson, CNN Money, 19 June 2026
It’s composed largely of her brilliant, almost painfully intimate essays, originally published in The New Yorker, about the fraught dynamics between mothers and daughters.
—Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 17 June 2026
Your brain becomes foggy and every movement feels painfully slow.
—Eva Steinwald, CNBC, 16 June 2026
The effect of Gaza on these particular swing voters lingers painfully in the thoughts of Harris’s most ardent supporters.
—Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 15 June 2026
Data, Not Models, Is The Bottleneck Companies that invested (sometimes painfully) in clean, governed and accessible data two or three years ago are seeing that investment pay compounding dividends today.
—Irfan Khan, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026
That trait becomes painfully clear when talk turns to the musical Brothers he’s lost in the last decade.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 12 June 2026
Tuesday night’s theme was painfully redundant for the Giants (27-41).
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 10 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for painfully
Adverb
-
That leaves the volatile Joanne feeling shut out and bitterly resentful.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
16 June 2026
-
The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, desperate to connect with the grandeur of antiquity and left bitterly disappointed by his visit to Rome, eventually arrived in this once-vibrant center of the extended Greek empire.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
Adverb
-
But there are glimmers of hope, particularly after the first two (sadly) table-setting episodes, that there is some honest-to-goodness storytelling momentum here.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
21 June 2026
-
This is sadly part of a larger trend by the mayor in putting his movement ahead of the best interests of his constituents.—
Bradley Tusk,
New York Daily News,
20 June 2026
Adverb
-
Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden.—
Madhuri Vijay,
New Yorker,
16 Nov. 2025
Adverb
-
In heat waves, Aid stations could be hard-pressed to manage everyone affected.—
Arthur L. Kellermann,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2026
-
Add liquid ingredients and ice, seal and shake hard.—
Jeremy Repanich,
Robb Report,
20 June 2026
Adverb
-
So is the moment early in the film when Mary mournfully looks on as her long-ago home faces demolition to make room for a big, featureless residential complex.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
6 June 2026
-
Things are getting hot in Kayce's love life, even after the widower mournfully visits the East Camp memorial to his beloved wife, Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille).—
Bryan Alexander,
USA Today,
25 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Painfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/painfully. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
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