Synonyms of pains

pains 1 of 2

noun

plural of pain

1

as in attention

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

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

2

as in effort

the active use of energy in producing a result

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

pains

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of pain

as in aches

to feel or cause physical pain

my poor head was paining so from all that racket

Synonyms & Similar Words

• aches
• hurts
• throbs
• tingles
• smarts
• swells
• cramps
• stings
• itches
• bites
• bleeds
• torments
• nags
• racks
• twinges
• burns
• tortures
• chafes
• suffers
• pinches
• pounds
• anguishes
• festers
• agonizes
• afflicts
• harrows

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of pains

Noun

Gibson cited increasingly severe stomach pains and diarrhea across several days as her family's symptoms. —Chiara Kim, PEOPLE, 15 Apr. 2026

Branch Rickey and Leo Durocher, the Dodgers’ general manager and manager, took great pains to protect Robinson, but protecting him from all of the vitriol was an impossibility. —Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 15 Apr. 2026

Grandmother explains how each plant helps humans ease aches and pains, as well as offering good foods like honey from the bees that drink from plants. —Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 12 Apr. 2026

But the problem with utilitarianism is that just as the subjective, first-person experiences of sensory perceptions cannot be compared among individuals, neither can pleasures and pains. —George G. Szpiro, Big Think, 9 Apr. 2026

After complaining of chest pains on July 4, Stevens was admitted to a hospital in Nashville. —Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 7 Apr. 2026

Reasons range from patients forgetting to take multiple drugs, to costs, to symptoms of statin intolerance such as muscle and joint pains. —David Cox, NBC news, 6 Apr. 2026

Bondi's public embrace of the president, however, marked a sharp departure from her predecessors, who generally took pains to maintain an arm's-length distance from the White House to protect the impartiality of investigations and prosecutions. —Arkansas Online, 3 Apr. 2026

Embracing, supporting and protecting the president Bondi’s public embrace of the president, however, marked a sharp departure from her predecessors, who generally took pains to maintain an arm’s-length distance from the White House to protect the impartiality of investigations and prosecutions. —Michelle L. Price, Chicago Tribune, 2 Apr. 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

But regret pains them like a knot in their shoulders. —Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2025