ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Painful', Synonyms of 'Painful' & More on 'Painful'

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

Herculean, aching, achy, acute, affecting, afflictive, aggravating, agonizing, algetic, annoying, arduous, assiduous, atrocious, backbreaking, besetting, biting, bitter, bleak, bothersome, burdensome, burning, careful, cheerless, comfortless, conscientious, cramping, cruel, crushing, demanding, deplorable, depressing, depressive, detailed, diligent, discomforting, dismal, dismaying, disquieting, distasteful, distressful, distressing, disturbing, dolorific, dolorogenic, dolorous, dreary, earnest, effortful, exacting, exasperating, excruciating, forced, galling, gnawing, grave, grievous, griping, grueling, harassing, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, harrowing, harsh, heavy, hefty, hurtful, hurting, irksome, irritating, joyless, killing, labored, laborious, lamentable, meticulous, mournful, moving, onerous, operose, oppressive, painstaking, paroxysmal, pathetic, piercing, piteous, pitiable, plaguey, poignant, pungent, punishing, racking, raw, regrettable, rigorous, rueful, sad, saddening, scrupulous, sedulous, sensitive, severe, sharp, shooting, smarting, sore, sorrowful, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, stabbing, stinging, strained, strenuous, tender, thorough, thoroughgoing, throbbing, toilsome, tormenting, torturous, touching, tough, troublesome, troubling, trying, unappetizing, uncomfortable, unpalatable, unpleasant, unsavory, uphill, vexatious, vexing, wearisome, woebegone, woeful, worrisome, worrying, wretched

Dictionary Results for painful:

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

painful
    adj 1: causing physical or psychological pain; "worked with
           painful slowness" [ant: painless]
    2: causing misery or pain or distress; "it was a sore trial to
       him"; "the painful process of growing up" [syn: afflictive,
       painful, sore]
    3: 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" [syn:
       atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful,
       terrible, unspeakable]
    4: causing physical discomfort; "bites of black flies are more
       than irritating; they can be very painful" [syn:
       irritating, painful]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Painful \Pain"ful\, a.
   1. Full of pain; causing uneasiness or distress, either
      physical or mental; afflictive; disquieting; distressing.
      --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with
      laborious effort; as a painful service; a painful march.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Painstaking; careful; industrious. [Obs.] --Fuller.
      [1913 Webster]

            A very painful person, and a great clerk. --Jer.
                                                  Taylor.
      [1913 Webster]

            Nor must the painful husbandman be tired. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Disquieting; troublesome; afflictive; distressing;
        grievous; laborious; toilsome; difficult; arduous.
        [1913 Webster] -- Pain"ful*ly, adv. --
        Pain"ful*ness, n.
        [1913 Webster]

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