painful

Definition

Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

Etymology

From Middle English paynful, peinful, peynful, paynefull, peynefull, equivalent to pain + -ful. Compare Danish pinefuld (“painful”).

Example Sentences

• "In a 2008 case report from India, doctors described removing a giant tonsillolith that was making it painful for a young patient to swallow."
• "A rackingly painful disease that affects the joints and finally cripples, it is caused by an imbalance of uric acid in the system."
• "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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