[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

painful \pain"ful\, a.
   1. full of pain; causing uneasiness or distress, either
      physical or mental; afflictive; disquieting; distressing.
      --addison.
      1913 webster

   2. requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with
      laborious effort; as a painful service; a painful march.
      1913 webster

   3. painstaking; careful; industrious. obs. --fuller.
      1913 webster

            a very painful person, and a great clerk. --jer.
                                                  taylor.
      1913 webster

            nor must the painful husbandman be tired. --dryden.
      1913 webster

   syn: disquieting; troublesome; afflictive; distressing;
        grievous; laborious; toilsome; difficult; arduous.
        1913 webster -- pain"fully, adv. --
        pain"fulness, n.
        1913 webster
see also:
pain"fully pain"fulness 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

painful
     adj 1: causing physical or psychological pain; "worked with painful
            slowness" ant: painless
     2: causing misery or pain or distress; "it was a sore trial to
        him"; "the painful process of growing up" syn: afflictive,
         sore
     3: exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious taste";
        "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful
        manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting";
        "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room" syn: atrocious,
         abominable, awful, dreadful, terrible, unspeakable
     4: causing physical discomfort; "bites of black flies are more
        than irritating; they can be very painful" syn: irritating
see also:
painless afflictive sore atrocious abominable awful 
dreadful terrible unspeakable irritating 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

140 moby thesaurus words for "painful":
   herculean, aching, achy, acute, affecting, afflictive, aggravating,
   agonizing, algetic, annoying, arduous, assiduous, atrocious,
   backbreaking, besetting, biting, bitter, bleak, bothersome,
   burdensome, burning, careful, cheerless, comfortless,
   conscientious, cramping, cruel, crushing, demanding, deplorable,
   depressing, depressive, detailed, diligent, discomforting, dismal,
   dismaying, disquieting, distasteful, distressful, distressing,
   disturbing, dolorific, dolorogenic, dolorous, dreary, earnest,
   effortful, exacting, exasperating, excruciating, forced, galling,
   gnawing, grave, grievous, griping, grueling, harassing, hard,
   hard-earned, hard-fought, harrowing, harsh, heavy, hefty, hurtful,
   hurting, irksome, irritating, joyless, killing, labored, laborious,
   lamentable, meticulous, mournful, moving, onerous, operose,
   oppressive, painstaking, paroxysmal, pathetic, piercing, piteous,
   pitiable, plaguey, poignant, pungent, punishing, racking, raw,
   regrettable, rigorous, rueful, sad, saddening, scrupulous,
   sedulous, sensitive, severe, sharp, shooting, smarting, sore,
   sorrowful, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, stabbing, stinging,
   strained, strenuous, tender, thorough, thoroughgoing, throbbing,
   toilsome, tormenting, torturous, touching, tough, troublesome,
   troubling, trying, unappetizing, uncomfortable, unpalatable,
   unpleasant, unsavory, uphill, vexatious, vexing, wearisome,
   woebegone, woeful, worrisome, worrying, wretched

Painful >> P Words
Painful, definition of term: Painful
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