The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - painful adj.

1) hurting, grievous, hurtful, sore, distressing, distressful, excruciating, torturous, agonizing, smarting, stinging, aching, achy, throbbing, burning, piercing, stabbing, sharp, tender, sensitive, raw, bitter, Formal nociceptive: The bullet caused a painful wound in the knee. Mother's arthritis can be quite painful at times. 2) vexing, vexatious, annoying, harassing, irritating, irksome, aggravating, galling, exasperating, unpleasant, afflictive, harrowing, worrisome, worrying, troubling, disquieting, disturbing, distressing: Fighting in the front lines was a painful experience for Rupert. 3 painstaking, laborious, careful, rigorous, arduous, assiduous, sedulous, diligent, earnest, conscientious, meticulous, scrupulous, detailed, thorough, thoroughgoing, exacting, demanding: A great deal of painful research went into discovering the cause of yellow fever.