Synonyms for painful
ˈpeɪn fəl

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate these synonyms:

1. painful(adj)

   causing physical or psychological pain

   "worked with painful slowness"

   Synonyms:
   irritating, terrible, unspeakable, awful, afflictive, atrocious, abominable, sore, dreadful

   Antonyms:
   unpainful, good, painless, pain-free, comfortable, comfy, pleasant

2. afflictive, painful, sore(adj)

   causing misery or pain or distress

   "it was a sore trial to him"; "the painful process of growing up"

   Synonyms:
   mad, irritating, sensitive, huffy, raw, terrible, unspeakable, tender, awful, afflictive, atrocious, abominable, sore, dreadful

   Antonyms:
   comfortable, comfy, pleasant, good, painless, pain-free, unpainful

3. atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable(adj)

   exceptionally bad or displeasing

   "atrocious taste"; "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting"; "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room"

   Synonyms:
   irritating, dreadful, indescribable, indefinable, awful, sore, odious, unnameable, execrable, horrifying, frightful, amazing, horrendous, severe, tremendous, dreaded, dire, afflictive, flagitious, grievous, monstrous, atrocious, ineffable, detestable, awing, awed, wicked, dread(a), awe-inspiring, unspeakable, horrific, nasty, terrible, horrible, abominable, frightening, unutterable, awesome, fearsome, fearful, direful, untellable, ugly

   Antonyms:
   comfortable, painless, comfy, pain-free, good, pleasant, unpainful

4. irritating, painful(adj)

   causing physical discomfort

   "bites of black flies are more than irritating; they can be very painful"

   Synonyms:
   nettlesome, annoying, afflictive, teasing, plaguy, vexing, vexatious, galling, irritative, abominable, bothersome, awful, unspeakable, plaguey, atrocious, pestiferous, terrible, pesky, dreadful, pestering, sore, irritating

   Antonyms:
   pain-free, painless, comfy, unpainful, comfortable, pleasant, good

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. painful(adjective)

   Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

   Antonyms:
   painfree, painless

2. painful(adjective)

   Synonyms:
   doleful, irksome, sorrowful, annoying

3. painful(adjective)

   Synonyms:
   laborious, exerting

English Synonyms and Antonyms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. painful

   Synonyms:
   depressing, disappointing, distressing, hateful, horrible, melancholy, miserable, mournful, saddening, woful, wretched

   Antonyms:
   acceptable, agreeable, congenial, delicious, delightful, grateful, gratifying, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, refreshing, satisfying, welcome

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. painful

   Synonyms:
   afflicting, distressful, grieving, grievous, excruciating

Dictionary of English Synonymes(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. painful(a.)

   Synonyms:
   tormenting, torturing, agonizing, racking, distressing, distressful, excruciating

2. painful(a.)

   Synonyms:
   grievous, afflicting, afflictive, disquieting, troublesome, displeasing, provoking, annoying, vexatious, unpleasant, disagreeable

3. painful(a.)

   Synonyms:
   toilsome, arduous, difficult, hard, severe

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. painful(a)

   Synonyms:
   distressing, agonizing, excruciating, dolorous, racking, toilsome, arduous, difficult

PPDB, the paraphrase database(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate these synonyms:

1. List of paraphrases:

   distressing, bitter, agonizing, sore, embarrassing, harrowing, sad, grievous, hurtful, difficult, dire, laborious, painstaking, arduous

How to pronounce painful?

Alex

US English

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British

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Australian

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Indian

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How to use painful in a sentence?

1. Yulia Skripal:

   We are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. Our recovery has been slow and extremely painful, as I try to come to terms with the devastating changes thrust upon me both physically and emotionally, I take one day at a time and want to help care for my Dad till his full recovery. In the longer term I hope to return home to my country.

2. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera:

   It deeply pains our government to announce -- because this is painful for Chile -- that we will not hold the APEC summit, which was scheduled to take place in November, or the COP25 summit, scheduled to take place in December.

3. Kim Gae-youn:

   If you're in the trenches, you want to have a machine gun, a grenade, a mine on hand, there are also different needs depending on individual markets, so regional sales staff naturally can't be happy when the company moves to rationalize and restructure from a global structure. The transition process is painful.

4. Lily James:

   They kind of do pretty much all the acting sometimes for you, they're so magical and you put them on and you suddenly stand different and you feel different and then it's all part of that magic -- but they were quite painful, they fit so tight.

5. Tom Angell:

   Dr. Murthy's comments add to a growing consensus in the medical community that marijuana can help people suffering from painful conditions.

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