painful

/ˈpeɪnfəl/

/ˈpeɪnfəl/

Anything painful hurts a lot — either physically or emotionally. Your sprained ankle may be painful, but so is your broken heart.

When something is physically painful, it hurts your body in some way, like a painful burn or a painful paper cut. Other things hurt just as much, but in an emotional way, like a painful separation from your cat when you go to summer camp. You can also use this adjective informally to mean really bad: "The wedding band's attempt at 'Stairway to Heaven' was just painful."

Definitions of painful

1. adjective

   causing physical or psychological pain
   “worked with painful slowness”

   synonyms:

   harmful

   causing or capable of causing harm

   inhumane

   reflecting lack of pity or compassion

   aching, achy

   causing a dull and steady pain

   agonised, agonized

   expressing pain or agony

   agonising, agonizing, excruciating, harrowing, torturesome, torturing, torturous

   extremely painful

   biting, bitter

   causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation; used especially of cold

   chafed, galled

   painful from having the skin abraded

   poignant

   keenly distressing to the mind or feelings

   itchy

   causing an irritating cutaneous sensation; being affect with an itch

   racking, wrenching

   causing great physical or mental suffering

   saddle-sore

   (of a rider) sore after riding a horse

   raw, sensitive, sore, tender

   hurting

   scalding, traumatic

   psychologically painful

   antonyms:

   painless

   not causing physical or psychological pain

   harmless

   not causing or capable of causing harm

   pain-free, unpainful

   not accompanied by pain sensations
2. adjective

   causing physical discomfort
   “they can be very painful”

   synonyms: irritating

   uncomfortable

   providing or experiencing physical discomfort
3. adjective

   causing misery or pain or distress
   “the painful process of growing up”

   synonyms: afflictive, sore

   unpleasant

   disagreeable to the senses, to the mind, or feelings
4. adjective

   exceptionally bad or displeasing
   “a painful performance”

   synonyms: abominable, abysmal, atrocious, awful, dreadful, terrible, unspeakable, vile

   bad

   having undesirable or negative qualities