painful
adj.-
1 physical hurt (adj.) B1 Intermediatecausing physical pain in your body.
causing physical suffering or discomfort to the body.
ExampleMy ankle is still very painful after I tripped on the stairs yesterday.
ExampleThe patient described a sharp, painful sensation in his lower back that intensified whenever he attempted to lift heavy objects.
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2 emotional distress (adj.) B1 Intermediatecausing mental or emotional sadness and upset.
evoking mental or emotional distress, grief, or discomfort.
ExampleIt was a painful memory that she didn't like to talk about.
ExampleThe documentary offered a painful look at the lives of refugees, forcing the audience to confront the harsh realities of displacement.
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3 difficult or slow (adj.) B2 Upper Intermediaterequiring a lot of effort or being very slow and difficult.
characterised by effort, difficulty, or tediousness.
ExampleThe recovery was a long and painful process for the whole family.
ExampleThe transition to the new software system was a painful experience for the staff, involving weeks of troubleshooting and overtime.
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4 very bad or annoying (adj.) B2 Upper Intermediate Informalextremely boring, bad, or embarrassing to watch or experience.
colloquially used to describe something of exceptionally poor quality or something that is socially awkward to witness.
ExampleThe comedian's jokes were so bad that the whole show was painful to watch.
ExampleThe local theatre production was frankly painful, with actors frequently forgetting their lines and missing their cues throughout the first act.
From Middle English paynful, peinful, peynful, paynefull, peynefull, equivalent to pain + -ful. Compare Danish pinefuld (“painful”).
- Adjectivepainful
- Adverbpainfully