hurtfulhurt‧ful /ˈhɜːtfəl $ ˈhɜːrt-/ ●○○ adjective 
- It's hurtful when you see good actors out of work and the way in which their confidence is corroded by the system.
- It was coming out too bound up in hurtful things.
- Mrs Browning was as aware of this as Wilson and indeed appeared to find nothing hurtful in mentioning it.
- Sufferers from Parkinson's disease are many, and their problems are hateful and hurtful.
- Television plays hurtful tricks on people who watch it long enough.
- That was very brutal and hurtful when I felt down.
- There was nothing remotely subversive about it, as far as I could see: hurtful, yes, but not subversive.
- This deliberate emphasis on the young people's unreliable and hurtful past relationships poses a dilemma for residential workers.
► unkind treating people in a way that makes them unhappy or upset. Unkind sounds rather formal. In everyday English, people usually say mean or nasty: · Children can be very unkind to each other.· a rather unkind remark
► mean especially spoken unkind: · Don’t be mean to your sister!· It was a mean thing to do.
► nasty deliberately unkind, and seeming to enjoy making people unhappy: · He said some really nasty things before he left.· a nasty man
► hurtful unkind – used about remarks and actions: · Joe couldn’t forget the hurtful things she had said.· Couples sometimes do hurtful things to each other.
► spiteful deliberately unkind to someone because you are jealous of them or angry with them: · The other women were spiteful to her, and gave her the hardest work to do.· She watched them with spiteful glee (=pleasure).
► malicious deliberately behaving in a way that is likely to upset, hurt, or cause problems for someone: · Someone had been spreading malicious rumours about him.· There was a malicious smile on her face.· an act of malicious vandalism· The accusations are malicious.
► unsympathetic not seeming to care about someone’s problems, and not trying to help them or make them feel better: · Her parents were very unsympathetic, and told her that she deserved to fail her exam.· an unsympathetic boss
► hard-hearted very unsympathetic and not caring at all about other people’s feelings: · Was he hard-hearted enough to leave his son in jail overnight?· a hard-hearted businessman
► hurtful remark/comment etc nounhurthurtfulnessadjectivehurt ≠ unhurthurtfulverbhurtadverbhurtfully