TRAUMATIC Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

traumatic

adjective

Definition of traumatic

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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of traumatic Zhang and Xuan were first arrested in May 2025 after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of a nanny at the home violently shaking the baby, according to Arcadia police. — ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026 Research into the neurobiology of trauma shows that partial memories are normal because the brain may struggle to process information during a traumatic experience, Palumbo said. — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026 But when a traumatic encounter sends Tonya spiraling back into addiction—and back into the dangerous orbit of her drug-dealing ex-husband, Ronny (Alexander)—her fragile progress begins to unravel. — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026 These are women who had to sign away their right to speak about the most traumatic event of their lives in order to get a diploma or even a small financial settlement. — Gretchen Carlson, New York Daily News, 2 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for traumatic

Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic

Adjective

Hill is a free agent after a horrible injury suffered last season.

— Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 5 Oct. 2026
Ashley Flynn’s sister, Kayla Keyt, said during her victim statement that her family could not overcome their sense of shock and despair after learning that Flynn betrayed them in such a violent and horrible way.

— Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC news, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of horrible

Adjective

As a young, aspiring writer, Perry yearned for dramatic, painful experiences to give her something to write about.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026
The album explores heartbreak, healing, faith and survival while shining a light on some of the most painful chapters of Judd's life, including her complicated relationship with her late mother Naomi Judd and Kelley's struggles.

— Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of painful

Adjective

Platforms prefill a name, email and phone number so a user can submit in one tap without leaving the feed, which is wonderful for a consumer promotion and terrible for a six-figure investment.

— Jonathan Durante, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
Saddled with terrible reviews and negative word-of-mouth, Tom Cruise‘s absurdist dark comedy has cratered at the box office with $8 million in North America and $20 million globally in its first weekend of release.

— Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of terrible

Adjective

As Earth faces an overwhelming alien threat, these young aviators are thrown into relentless combat that tests their loyalty, courage and faith in one another.

— Leo Barraclough, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026
Panay is known as an effusive onstage showman, making product launches a flashy, intimate affair that feels closer to Apple’s past legendary showcases than to the overwhelming Amazon events that predated him.

— Sebastian Herrera, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of overwhelming

Adjective

In lieu of an interview, Gibney created an unsettling digital avatar of Musk that says things the real Musk actually uttered.

— Sheelah Kolhatkar, New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2026
Its aggressively artificial imagery evokes the kind of AI-slop, dreamcore videos that tend to populate social media these days, thrusting the audience into increasingly unsettling spaces that seem generated from a stranger’s hazy childhood.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of unsettling

Adjective

When Moore left the game after an awful hit from a USC linebacker, Raiola stepped up and looked even better.

— Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026
But coming off the back of that, there was all of this legislation that was pretty awful and generally, there were a lot of homophobic attitudes, still quite extreme, even as late as the 1990s.

— Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of awful

Adjective

Now, the defining image of the death penalty in 2026 is a woman strapped to a gurney, in unbearable agony, being tortured by prison officials tasked with killing her but unable to do so.

— Maya Foa, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026
When murder escalates from a scheme to action, her secret becomes an unbearable burden to carry.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of unbearable

Adjective

Brian had written down the recipe, and, in his back shed, Michael, with the eventual assistance of Kasey, sets about following it into strange and disturbing territory.

— Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026
Artificial’s timeliness in that regard is striking, even disturbing.

— David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of disturbing

Browse Nearby Words

trashy

traumatic

traumatically

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“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of traumatic

adjective

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