irritating, painful
(adjective) causing physical discomfort; “bites of black flies are more than irritating; they can be very painful”
atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable
(adjective) 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”
painful
(adjective) causing physical or psychological pain; “worked with painful slowness”
afflictive, painful, sore
(adjective) causing misery or pain or distress; “it was a sore trial to him”; “the painful process of growing up”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
painful (comparative painfuller or more painful, superlative 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.]
(informal) Very bad, poor.
• (full of pain): doleful, sorrowful, smartful, irksome, annoying
• (requiring labor or toil): laborious, exerting
• (causing pain): painless, painfree
Source: Wiktionary
Pain"ful, a.
1. Full of pain; causing uneasiness or distress, either physical or mental; afflictive; disquieting; distressing Addison.
2. Requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with laborious effort; as a painful service; a painful march.
3. Painstaking; careful; industrious. [Obs.] Fuller. A very painful person, and a great clerk. Jer. Taylor. Nor must the painful husbandman be tired. Dryden.
Syn.
– Disquieting; troublesome; afflictive; distressing; grievous; laborious; toilsome; difficult; arduous.
– Pain"ful*ly, adv.
– Pain"ful*ness, n.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
10 March 2025
(adjective) celebrated in fable or legend; “the fabled Paul Bunyan and his blue ox”; “legendary exploits of Jesse James”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
