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
Yours are pretty and exponentially better than that traumatic experience.
—
Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 May 2025
Is the idea that revisiting something as traumatic as, say, the death of your son, as if for the first time, would help people heal?
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 21 May 2025
The physical ailment is a new one for Stabler, who's survived numerous shootings throughout his years on the job and, most recently, a traumatic car accident at the start of this fifth season.
—Alex Ross, People.com, 21 May 2025
Brown plays Medwin Harris, a gregarious, larger-than-life type who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia and takes Wash on as his protégé.
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 May 2025
Is the idea that revisiting something as traumatic as, say, the death of your son, as if for the first time, would help people heal?
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 21 May 2025
The physical ailment is a new one for Stabler, who's survived numerous shootings throughout his years on the job and, most recently, a traumatic car accident at the start of this fifth season.
—Alex Ross, People.com, 21 May 2025
Brown plays Medwin Harris, a gregarious, larger-than-life type who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia and takes Wash on as his protégé.
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic
Adjective
-
Even with the horrible start the Red Sox still nearly came all the way back, twice drawing to within one run, but the club couldn’t get over the hump.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
3 June 2025
-
Our hearts go out to those who witnessed this horrible attack, and prayers for a speedy recovery to those who were injured.—
Christa Swanson,
CBS News,
2 June 2025
Adjective
-
For millions of Americans, the road to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is slow and painful, sought only when symptoms become unmistakable.—
Louise Jacobsen Fisher,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 June 2025
-
And sometimes, that transformation, though painful, can deepen our capacity for compassion, connection, and appreciation for the precious gift of life itself.—
Charell G. Coleman,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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Kids these days have attention spans crushed under the terrible weight of TikTok and Instgram.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
3 June 2025
-
My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!—
Dan Mangan,
CNBC,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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Her post received an overwhelming amount of support from celebrities and fans alike, who applauded her for being so open.—
Stephanie Guerilus,
People.com,
8 June 2025
-
And so to be here, 74,000 back-to-back nights, to break a record here for Banana Ball, and to see this response from this community, was overwhelming.—
Mike Kaye,
Charlotte Observer,
8 June 2025
Adjective
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For Armstrong, capturing the humanity of these men paints a more unsettling portrait than pure billionaire-trolling might.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
30 May 2025
-
The main case under investigation is unsettling and satisfyingly intricate, with ample thematic connections to Morck, Akram and Rose’s respective forms of psychological damage.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
29 May 2025
Adjective
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Over the 18 games following a 21-run eruption against the historically awful Colorado Rockies, the Padres ranked last in the majors in OPS and third-to-last in runs per game.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
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The timing isn’t awful for SDFC, which doesn’t play its next league game until June 14 and expected Lozano to be absent possibly into early July on national-team duty.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2025
Adjective
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An Expert Weighs In What began as awkward quickly became unbearable.—
Ashley Vega,
People.com,
28 May 2025
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But, instead of improving, the pain intensified—spreading into my mid-back and becoming unbearable at night.—
Nicholas Creel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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The withdrawn teen obsessively draws dark spiders in class and shows a disturbing fixation on news reports of school shootings.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
6 June 2025
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His disturbing legacy drew the attention of filmmaker and former HBO executive Kary Antholis, who had followed the case for decades.—
JP Mangalindan,
Time,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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