Need another word that means the same as “painful”? Find 32 synonyms and 30 related words for “painful” in this overview.
The synonyms of “Painful” are: irritating, afflictive, sore, abominable, atrocious, awful, dreadful, terrible, unspeakable, hurting, hurt, tender, aching, throbbing, smarting, burning, agonizing, excruciating, distressing, unpleasant, nasty, bitter, disquieting, disturbing, upsetting, traumatic, miserable, wretched, sad, heartbreaking, harrowing, mortifying
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “painful” as an adjective can have the following definitions:
| abominable | Unequivocally detestable. The uprising was suppressed with abominable cruelty. |
| aching | Causing a dull and steady pain. The cool air was a relief to my aching head. |
| afflictive | Causing pain or suffering. I was under assault by afflictive emotions anger fear panic. |
| agonizing | Extremely painful. There is an agonizing choice to make. |
| atrocious | Exceptionally bad or displeasing. Atrocious weather. |
| awful | (of a person) very unwell or troubled. I ve made an awful fool of myself. |
| bitter | (of wind or weather) intensely cold. Today s decision has come as a bitter blow. |
| burning | Very keenly or deeply felt; intense. The burning question of independence. |
| disquieting | Inducing feelings of anxiety or worry. The disquieting sounds of nearby gunfire. |
| distressing | Bad; unfortunate. Distressing or disturbing news. |
| disturbing | Causing distress or worry or anxiety. Distressing or disturbing news. |
| dreadful | Causing or involving great suffering, fear, or unhappiness; extremely bad or serious. She looked quite dreadful and she was struggling for breath. |
| excruciating | Extremely painful. Excruciating back pain. |
| harrowing | Acutely distressing. It was a harrowing experience. |
| heartbreaking | Causing or marked by grief or anguish. Her sigh was heartbreaking. |
| hurt | Suffering from physical injury especially that suffered in battle. Ambulances for the hurt men and women. |
| hurting | Suffering from physical injury especially that suffered in battle. |
| irritating | Serving to stimulate or excite. The substance may be irritating to eyes and skin. |
| miserable | Of the most contemptible kind. You miserable skunk. |
| mortifying | Causing to feel shame or chagrin or vexation. How mortifying to find that he was right. |
| nasty | Damaging or harmful. Life has a nasty habit of repeating itself. |
| sad | Of things that make you feel sad. I was sad and subdued. |
| smarting | Capable of independent and apparently intelligent action. Susan rubbed her smarting eyes. |
| sore | Roused to anger- Mark Twain. She had a sore throat. |
| tender | Given to sympathy or gentleness or sentimentality. The pale tender skin of her forearm. |
| terrible | Causing or likely to cause terror; sinister. A terrible crime. |
| throbbing | Causing pain in a series of regular beats. A throbbing vein. |
| traumatic | Psychologically painful. She was going through a traumatic divorce. |
| unpleasant | (of a person or their manner) unfriendly and inconsiderate; rude. An unpleasant personality. |
| unspeakable | Not able to be expressed in words. I felt an unspeakable tenderness towards her. |
| upsetting | Causing an emotional disturbance- Herb Caen. An upsetting experience. |
| wretched | Deserving or inciting pity- Galsworthy. She disliked the wretched man intensely. |
| aching | Having an ache in a part of one’s body. My aching head. |
| agonizing | Causing great physical or mental pain. An agonizing death. |
| biting | Capable of wounding. His biting satire on corruption and power. |
| bitter | Alcohol flavoured with bitter plant extracts used as an additive in cocktails or as a medicinal substance to promote appetite or digestion. The bitter truth. |
| bitterly | To an extreme, forceful, or particularly harsh degree. Its humour is cutting and bitterly sarcastic. |
| callus | Form a callus or calluses. The long march had callused his feet. |
| distressing | Causing distress or worry or anxiety. Some very distressing news. |
| doleful | Expressing sorrow; mournful. A doleful look. |
| dolorous | Feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress. A dolorous and repetitive tale of atrocity. |
| elegy | (in modern literature) a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead. |
| excruciating | Intensely painful. He explained the procedure in excruciating detail. |
| frustrating | Discouraging by hindering. It can be very frustrating to find that the size you want isn t there. |
| grievous | Of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought. His death was a grievous blow. |
| harrowing | Extremely painful. It was a harrowing experience. |
| irksome | Irritating; annoying. An irksome journey. |
| lamentable | Full of or expressing sorrow or grief. The lamentable friends trailing their long black garments. |
| lamentation | A book of the Bible telling of the desolation of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Scenes of lamentation. |
| mournful | Feeling, expressing, or inducing sadness, regret, or grief. Stared with mournful eyes. |
| poignant | Keenly distressing to the mind or feelings. Poignant anxiety. |
| sad | Of things that make you feel sad Christina Rossetti. The show is tongue in cheek anyone who takes it seriously is a bit sad. |
| sore | An open skin infection. They were sore afraid. |
| sorrowful | Feeling or showing grief. A sorrowful tale of death and despair. |
| stressful | Extremely irritating to the nerves. The stressful days before a war. |
| swollen | Characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Growing ever more swollen headed and arbitrary. |
| tedious | So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness. Tedious days on the train. |
| torturous | Characterized by, involving, or causing pain or suffering. A torturous five days of fitness training. |
| traumatic | Relating to or denoting physical injury. Few experiences are more traumatic than losing a child. |
| trying | Difficult or annoying; hard to endure. It had been a very trying day. |
| unhappy | Unfortunate. The unhappy or sad news. |
| worrisome | Not reassuring; tending to cause anxiety. In a particularly worrisome predicament. |
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