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
According to Ferrari, even subtle forms of neglect—being included in name but not truly prioritized—can be as painful as outright rejection.
—
Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025
The Mets’ postseason run in 2006, the World Series in 2015 and his final, painful final at-bat 2018 gave way to days on the softball and soccer fields with his three kids, Olivia, Madison and Brooks, and a family life in Los Angeles with their mother, his wife Molly.
—Abbey Mastracco, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2025
Less than 15% of people can develop serious complications, like painful ulcers on their legs.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 18 July 2025
On the Blue Devils’ flight home from San Antonio, there Scheyer was: digesting the game tape, reliving the most painful defeat he’s suffered in three seasons coaching his alma mater.
—Brendan Marks, New York Times, 9 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for painful
Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025
The Mets’ postseason run in 2006, the World Series in 2015 and his final, painful final at-bat 2018 gave way to days on the softball and soccer fields with his three kids, Olivia, Madison and Brooks, and a family life in Los Angeles with their mother, his wife Molly.
—Abbey Mastracco, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2025
Less than 15% of people can develop serious complications, like painful ulcers on their legs.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 18 July 2025
On the Blue Devils’ flight home from San Antonio, there Scheyer was: digesting the game tape, reliving the most painful defeat he’s suffered in three seasons coaching his alma mater.
—Brendan Marks, New York Times, 9 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for painful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for painful
Adjective
-
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
-
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
Adjective
-
Late-night talk shows across the board are facing the harsh reality that declines in ad revenue can’t make up for burgeoning production costs.—
Liam Reilly,
CNN Money,
22 July 2025
-
The harsh reality is this: not all cell phone forensic extractions are created equal, and the most important evidence for trucking cases on the smartphone will be gone in days or weeks.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
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
-
Despite his large body of work as a MAGA sycophant, YouTuber Benny Johnson couldn’t swallow Trump’s logically torturous explanations of why his backers should just forget about Epstein.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
19 July 2025
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But the games must go on, and in the third installment, he’s forced to play even more torturous rounds that divide the players further, including a terrifying game of hide-and-seek and a deadly round of double Dutch.—
Monica Mercuri,
Forbes.com,
29 June 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
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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
-
For eight agonizing days, M. Paul Traynor, a native of Dublin, Ireland, who has lived in Easton, Maryland, for the past 35 years, was left desperately searching for his missing dog.—
Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 July 2025
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After twenty agonizing minutes of missiles, the all-clear sounded.—
Debbie Koristz,
Sun Sentinel,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
Despite her success as an art professor and painter, Ruth feels adrift and bitter.—
Bekah Waalkes,
The Atlantic,
22 July 2025
-
Instead of feeling defeated or bitter, choose to get better.—
Sandra Balogun,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Painful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/painful. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.
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