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Adjective: painful  peyn-ful
  1. Causing physical or psychological pain
    "worked with painful slowness"
     
  2. Causing misery, pain or distress
    "the painful process of growing up";
    - afflictive, sore
     
  3. Exceptionally bad or displeasing
    "a painful performance";
    - atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, terrible, unspeakable, horrible
     
  4. Causing physical discomfort
    "bites of black flies are more than irritating; they can be very painful";
    - irritating

See also: aching, achy, agonised [Brit], agonising [Brit], agonized, agonizing, bad, biting, bitter, chafed, excruciating, galled, harmful, harrowing, inhumane, itchy, poignant, racking, raw, saddle-sore, sensitive, sore, tender, torturesome, torturing, torturous, traumatic, uncomfortable, unpleasant, wrenching

Antonym: painless

Encyclopedia: Painful