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
The challenge, however, was actually finding and talking with individuals willing to speak about a traumatic experience many had pushed aside for years.
—
Aj Willingham,
AJC.com,
26 June 2026
The movie features flashbacks to Kara's traumatic childhood first watching her planet explode and then witnessing her people, including her mom (Emily Beecham), die from Kryptonite poisoning before her dad (David Krumholtz) sends her to Earth.
—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
26 June 2026
The episode, which runs just 20 minutes, ends at the height of this utter hell, no doubt triggering traumatic memories for anyone who's ever worked in a high-volume kitchen.
—
Ew Staff,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 June 2026
Her essay in Vogue on the traumatic birth of her son and postpartum depression caught national attention, and essays since have appeared in The Strategist and Harper’s Bazaar.
—
Parents,
24 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Aj Willingham,
AJC.com,
26 June 2026
The movie features flashbacks to Kara's traumatic childhood first watching her planet explode and then witnessing her people, including her mom (Emily Beecham), die from Kryptonite poisoning before her dad (David Krumholtz) sends her to Earth.
—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
26 June 2026
The episode, which runs just 20 minutes, ends at the height of this utter hell, no doubt triggering traumatic memories for anyone who's ever worked in a high-volume kitchen.
—
Ew Staff,
Entertainment Weekly,
25 June 2026
Her essay in Vogue on the traumatic birth of her son and postpartum depression caught national attention, and essays since have appeared in The Strategist and Harper’s Bazaar.
—
Parents,
24 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic
Adjective
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The Red Sox offense has been horrible this season, but Contreras has been everything the club could have hoped for.
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Your cab driver is taking you on a horrible route.
Adjective
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And that says something painful about what my country has become, and my place in it.
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For thousands of Venezuelans, however, the absence of definitive answers has become one of the tragedy’s most painful consequences.
Adjective
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Thank you to everyone who read or contributed to this column over the years, who reached out to me with story ideas or tips, or complimented my terrible artwork.
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Visitors will see his Rough Riders uniform; the 1884 diary grieving his terrible loss; and the eyeglasses case, speech and shirt from the 1912 assassination attempt against him.
Adjective
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Miami-Dade and Palm Beach together account for the overwhelming majority of Florida’s survivor population.
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Despite entering the match as overwhelming favorites, Argentina is approaching the match cautiously.
Adjective
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The New York Times reported that multiple women who once dated Platner described the Maine oysterman’s behavior as intimidating and unsettling.
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This move, by a native of the attention economy, signals a growing trend of users actively disengaging, unsettling consumer investors.
Adjective
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Messi shook off his awful spot kick to deliver another match-winning masterclass against Austria and become the competition’s all-time top scorer in the process.
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But the Windows handheld software experience on the Claw is just awful compared to the straightforwardness of SteamOS on the Steam Deck.
Adjective
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The most unbearable clash was between the Declaration’s principle of equality and the Constitution’s provisions on slavery—the three-fifths clause, the fugitive-slave clause, and the slave-trade clause.
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Soledad Martinez, a 77-year-old resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 45 years, said the fumes and uncertainty had made life in her neighborhood unbearable.
Adjective
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There were many disturbing parts of Kerstin’s story left unpursued.
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The film is a modern take on the creature horror film told from the perspective of a young boy who slowly begins to discover that his beloved parents are hiding a disturbing secret about his mother’s true nature.
Cite this Entry
“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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