English - Adjective
PAINFUL (_comparative_ PAINFULLER _or_ MORE PAINFUL, _superlative_ PAINFULLEST _or_ MOST PAINFUL)
* Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. [from 14th c.]
* Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person). [from 15th c.]
* Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious. [from 15th c.]
* (now rare) Painstaking; careful; industrious. [from 16th c.]
* 1624, John Smith, _Generall Historie_, in Kupperman 1988, p. 142:
The men bestow their times in fishing, hunting, warres, and such manlike exercises, scorning to be seene in any woman-like exercise, which is the cause that the women be very PAINEFULL, and the men often idle.
* 1843, Thomas Carlyle, _Past and Present_, Book 2, Ch. 2
For twenty generations, here was the earthly arena where PAINFUL living men worked out their life-wrestle
SYNONYMS
* (full of pain): doleful, sorrowful, irksome, annoying
* (requiring labor or toil): laborious, exerting
ANTONYMS
* (causing pain): painless, painfree
DERIVED TERMS
* painfully
* painfulness
TRANSLATIONS
painful (comparative painfuller or more
painful, superlative painfullest or most painful)
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Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. [from 14th c.]
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Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a
person). [from 15th c.]
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Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious. [from 15th c.]
-
(now rare) Painstaking; careful; industrious. [from 16th c.]
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1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 142:
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The men bestow their times in fishing, hunting, warres, and such manlike exercises, scorning to be seene in any woman-like exercise, which is the cause that the women be very painefull, and the men often idle.
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1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, Book 2, Ch. 2
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For twenty generations, here was the earthly arena where painful living men worked out their life-wrestle