as in horrible
causing great and lasting pain or distress
The family struggled to cope with the traumatic experience of losing their home.
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Recent Examples of traumatic
Messi’s traumatic exit from the club in summer 2021 left them with multiple issues to resolve — one of which was the question of who would inherit that shirt number while dealing with the weight of the Argentinian’s legacy.
—
Pol Ballús, New York Times, 17 June 2026
Loftis has his own traumatic history with the town of Widow’s Bay, but remains skeptical until he is scratched by an ethereal creature on a foggy night.
—Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2026
Historian Noor Nieftagodien said the 1976 student protest movement was a traumatic and transformative moment that reshaped the anti-apartheid struggle, placing young people at the forefront of liberation politics.
—ABC News, 15 June 2026
Activating them during exposure work may reinforce the therapeutic learning happening in the room, helping patients form new emotional associations with traumatic memories rather than experiencing them as immediate threats.
—Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Pol Ballús, New York Times, 17 June 2026
Loftis has his own traumatic history with the town of Widow’s Bay, but remains skeptical until he is scratched by an ethereal creature on a foggy night.
—Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2026
Historian Noor Nieftagodien said the 1976 student protest movement was a traumatic and transformative moment that reshaped the anti-apartheid struggle, placing young people at the forefront of liberation politics.
—ABC News, 15 June 2026
Activating them during exposure work may reinforce the therapeutic learning happening in the room, helping patients form new emotional associations with traumatic memories rather than experiencing them as immediate threats.
—Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic
Adjective
-
The companies try to slow down this process by submerging it in oil, but the resulting flavor is horrible.—
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner,
Martha Stewart,
13 June 2026
-
Your cab driver is taking you on a horrible route.—
Zach Schiffman,
Curbed,
12 June 2026
Adjective
-
The core characters Each character came into their own during the series, sometimes in emotionally painful ways.—
Pat Saperstein,
Variety,
14 June 2026
-
Hidden inside those numbers is a long and painful history.—
Ryan Lenora Brown,
NPR,
14 June 2026
Adjective
-
This is Conolly’s Folly, built in 1740 at the height of a terrible famine.—
Amelia Soth,
JSTOR Daily,
18 June 2026
-
The heroes who save us from these awful, terrible music haters do so with force.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
18 June 2026
Adjective
-
Consider the overwhelming scenes of thousands of Argentines in Mill Creek Park and the Crossroads Arts District on Monday night, the greeting for the English team at Swope Park and the Netherlands in Riverside and beyond.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
16 June 2026
-
Her grief may be overwhelming and making her current situation even worse.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
16 June 2026
Adjective
-
Even when those withdrawals are planned, seeing balances decrease can feel unsettling.—
Andrew Rosen,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
-
Could Kadri, given the unsettling aspects of a trade and the finger injury, find a bump in play next year?—
Corey Masisak,
Denver Post,
18 June 2026
Adjective
-
But their pitching staff has been disappointing to awful, and there's little help coming from the farm system.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
18 June 2026
-
In fact, this version of Louis sounds an awful lot like Lestat.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
16 June 2026
Adjective
-
Living in Texas, where the humidity is unbearable in the spring and summer, the Daybird tint is always my go-to.—
Alyssa Morin,
InStyle,
12 June 2026
-
Whatever conclusions investigators might reach, the loss of at least 50 souls, and the wounding of dozens more innocents, is an unbearable blow for any community.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
12 June 2026
Adjective
-
There’s another, more disturbing chapter in the book about Jack Webb, the star of Dragnet.—
Seth Abramovitch,
HollywoodReporter,
13 June 2026
-
Chestnut said the most disturbing part is that scammers were trying to take advantage of families in a vulnerable moment.—
Tori Mason,
CBS News,
12 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 22 Jun. 2026.
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