Synonyms for painful
ˈpeɪn fəlpainful

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. painfuladjective

   Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

   Antonyms:
   painfree, painless

2. painfuladjective

   Synonyms:
   doleful, irksome, sorrowful, annoying

3. painfuladjective

   Synonyms:
   laborious, exerting

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

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 AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. painful

   Synonyms:
   afflicting, distressful, grieving, grievous, excruciating

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. painfuladjective

   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, soreadjective

   causing misery or pain or distress

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

   Synonyms:
   mad, irritating, sensitive, huffy, painful, 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, unspeakableadjective

   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, painful, 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, painfuladjective

   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, painful, irritating

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

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. painfuladjective

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

2. painfuladjective

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

3. painfuladjective

   Synonyms:
   toilsome, arduous, difficult, hard, severe

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. painfuladjective

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

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "painful":

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

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How to use painful in a sentence?

1. Haimer abdou:

   God created the woman from clay so that her passion would be painful and warm.

2. Arizona Sen.John McCain:

   It's such a privilege to have people share such personal things with me and to feel comfortable talking to me about, you know, things that are very private and very painful, people share it quite a bit and it’s really a nice part of my life.

3. Filmmaker Evan Briggs:

   It's something that you or I could do in 30 seconds flat, and watching them both try to fumble through with limited dexterity was kind of painful but sweet because they really needed each other to make it happen, you could tell the kids felt, we're doing this together, and we're helping each other, and it's not yet another situation where I'm not big enough.

4. Tomiko Kawano:

   Sadako would ask us, "What is junior high like?" or "Is English class hard?" Since we knew she would never see the inside of the junior high school, it was painful to answer her. All we could do was try to ease her feelings by saying things like, "Junior high--what a bore," and "Elementary school was better.

5. Abdul Nasir Sawabi:

   This place can show how vicious a war can be, we are the middle-aged generation that has been through this war, but the kids who are growing up now are a new generation for whom all this is just a memory. So these scenes can show them what kind of painful life their people were living in the past and what sacrifices they had to make. This can be a good lesson for them to safeguard the opportunities they have now.