If a part of your body is painful, it hurts because it is injured or because there is something wrong with it.
Her glands were swollen and painful.
Sampras awaits the results of a bone scan on a painful left shin.
Synonyms: sore, hurting, smarting, aching More Synonyms of painful
painfullyadverb [ADVERB with verb]
His tooth had started to throb painfully again.
2. adjective
If something such as an illness, injury, or operation is painful, it causes you a lot of physical pain.
...a painful back injury.
Sunburn is painful and potentially dangerous.
painfullyadverb [ADVERB with verb]
He cracked his head painfully against the cupboard.
3. adjective [oft ADJECTIVE to-infinitive]
Situations, memories, or experiences that are painful are difficult and unpleasant to deal with, and often make you feel sad and upset.
Remarks like that brought back painful memories.
...the painful transition to democracy.
She finds it too painful to return there without him.
painfullyadverb [ADVERB with verb]
...their old relationship, which he had painfully broken off.
Synonyms: distressingly, clearly, sadly, unfortunately More Synonyms of painful
4. adjective [oft ADJECTIVE to-infinitive]
If a performance or interview is painful, it is so bad that it makes you feel embarrassed for the people taking part in it.
[informal]
The interview was painful to watch.
Synonyms: terrible [informal], awful, dreadful, dire More Synonyms of painful
More Synonyms of painful
painful in British English
(ˈpeɪnfʊl)
adjective
1.
causing pain; distressing
a painful duty
2.
affected with pain
a painful leg
3.
tedious or difficult
4. informal
extremely bad
a painful performance
Derived forms
painfully (ˈpainfully)
adverb
painfulness (ˈpainfulness)
noun
painful in American English
(ˈpeɪnfəl)
adjective
1.
causing pain; hurting; distressing
2.
full of or suffering with pain; aching
a painful finger
3.
requiring trouble and care; exacting and difficult
4.
annoying or tedious
a long, painful lecture
5. Archaic
painstaking
Derived forms
painfully (ˈpainfully)
adverb
painfulness (ˈpainfulness)
noun
Examples of 'painful' in a sentence
painful
The process will be painful and it will take time but it is necessary.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
As you will know, you are in shock and in the painful process of grief.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It's extremely painful to play on.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
You now know a little bit more about my business and the painful process of 360 reviews in big banks.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Researchers who studied those undergoing the painful process found that, for men, the benefits outweighed the risks.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It must feel like that for the town's footballers as they make their own painful trawl around Britain.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Not having the right support puts stress on the bones and joints, which could lead to joint problems and painful stress fractures in worst case scenarios.
The Sun (2016)
Sometimes painful and often farcical it is a journey that introduced them into a whole new world.
The Sun (2006)
This journey promises to be as compelling and less painful.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
So they are probably reacting by screaming because their ears feel uncomfortable or painful.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
We have learned through painful experience that players who are not fit should not go.
The Sun (2013)
This awareness only comes after a long and painful process.
The Times Literary Supplement (2013)
We will have lots of painful farewells.
Christianity Today (2000)
It was just too difficult and painful.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
My neck is still very painful and often stiff.
The Sun (2011)
This is less painful than waxing but some people report mild discomfort.
The Sun (2012)
Being with people who are both silly and tease her feels extremely painful.
Wilkinson, Helena Beyond Chaotic Eating (1993)
An end to the delays that make a painful experience much worse.
The Sun (2011)
The indigestion from those heady days will no doubt be long and painful in this downturn.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Some of the stories in the film are extremely painful.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
It was all very difficult and very painful.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
But it is this same bond of affection that makes it so painful and distressing when things go wrong.
Pearce, John (Dr.) Good Habits, Bad Habits (1994)
But we were hammered by a much better team and it taught me a whole lot in one painful night.
The Sun (2011)
Promise to be understanding, as this may be a painful memory.
The Sun (2016)
YOU'D think that after millions of years of evolution the human body would have worked out a way to make childbirth less painful.
The Sun (2007)
Something else quite painful: the way in which the business establishment failed to spot any problems.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The Pope also has a painful right leg and has taken to using a walking stick in his apartment.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
At the moment there is not a good enough deterrent to stop these vicious, painful and dangerous attacks.
The Sun (2012)
He had cerebral palsy, which left him with stiff, painful legs.