painfulness

Roget category 830

6. Words relating to the sentient and moral
› 6.2. Personal affections
›› 6.2.1. Passive affections

#830. [Capability of giving pain; cause or source of pain]. Painfulness

noun

painfulness etc. adj. — trouble, care etc. (pain) 828 — trial — affliction, infliction — blow, stroke, burden, load, curse — bitter pill, bitter draught — waters of bitterness.
annoyance, grievance, nuisance, vexation, mortification, sickener^† — bore, bother, pother, hot water, sea of troubles" [Hamlet], hornet's nest, plague, pest.
cancer, ulcer, sting, thorn — canker etc. (bane) 663 — scorpion etc. (evil doer) 913 — dagger etc. (arms) 727 — scourge etc. (instrument of punishment) 975 — carking care, canker worm of care.
mishap, misfortune etc. (adversity) 735 — desagrement [Fr.], esclandre [Fr.], rub.
source of irritation, source of annoyance — wound, open sore — sore subject, skeleton in the closet — thorn in the flesh, thorn in one's side — where the shoe pinches, gall and wormwood.
sorry sight, heavy news, provocation — affront etc. 929 — head and front of one's offending" [Othello]. infestation, molestation — malignity etc. (malevolence) 907.

verb

cause pain, occasion pain, give pain, bring pain, induce pain, produce pain, create pain, inflict pain etc. 828 — pain, hurt, wound.
pinch, prick, gripe etc. (physical pain) 378 — pierce, lancinate^†, cut.
hurt the feelings, wound the feelings, grate upon the feelings, grate upon the nerves, jar upon the feelings — wring the heart, pierce the heart, lacerate the heart, break the heart, rend the heart — make the heart bleed — tear the heart strings, rend the heart strings — draw tears from the eyes.
sadden — make unhappy etc. 828 — plunge into sorrow, grieve, fash^†, afflict, distress — cut up, cut to the heart.
displease, annoy, incommode, discompose, trouble, disquiet — faze, feaze^†, feeze [U.S.] — disturb, cross, perplex, molest, tease, tire, irk, vex, mortify, wherret^†, worry, plague, bother, pester, bore, pother, harass, harry, badger, heckle, bait, beset, infest, persecute, importune.
wring, harrow, torment, torture — bullyrag — put to the rack, put to the question — break on the wheel, rack, scarify — cruciate^†, crucify — convulse, agonize — barb the dart — plant a dagger in the breast, plant a thorn in one's side.
irritate, provoke, sting, nettle, try the patience, pique, fret, rile, tweak the nose, chafe, gall — sting to the quick, wound to the quick, cut to the quick — aggrieve, affront, enchafe^†, enrage, ruffle, sour the temper — give offense etc. (resentment) 900.
maltreat, bite, snap at, assail — smite etc. (punish) 972.
sicken, disgust, revolt, nauseate, disenchant, repel, offend, shock, stink in the nostrils — go against the stomach, turn the stomach — make one sick, set the teeth on edge, go against the grain, grate on the ear — stick in one's throat, stick in one's gizzard — rankle, gnaw, corrode, horrify, appal^†, appall, freeze the blood — make the flesh creep, make the hair stand on end — make the blood curdle, make the blood run cold — make one shudder.
haunt the memory — weigh on the heart, prey on the heart, weigh on the mind, prey on the mind, weigh on the spirits, prey on the spirits — bring one's gray hairs with sorrow to the bring one's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave — add a nail to one's coffin.

adjective

causing pain, hurting etc. v. — hurtful etc. (bad) 649 — painful — dolorific^†, dolorous — unpleasant — unpleasing, displeasing — disagreeable, unpalatable, bitter, distasteful — uninviting — unwelcome — undesirable, undesired — obnoxious — unacceptable, unpopular, thankless.
unsatisfactory, untoward, unlucky, uncomfortable.
distressing — afflicting, afflictive — joyless, cheerless, comfortless — dismal, disheartening — depressing, depressive — dreary, melancholy, grievous, piteous — woeful, rueful, mournful, deplorable, pitiable, lamentable — sad, affecting, touching, pathetic.
irritating, provoking, stinging, annoying, aggravating, mortifying, galling — unaccommodating, invidious, vexatious — troublesome, tiresome, irksome, wearisome — plaguing, plaguy^† — awkward.
importunate — teasing, pestering, bothering, harassing, worrying, tormenting, carking.
intolerable, insufferable, insupportable — unbearable, unendurable — past bearing — not to be borne, not to be endured — more than flesh and blood can bear — enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot.
shocking, terrific, grim, appalling, crushing — dreadful, fearful, frightful — thrilling, tremendous, dire — heart-breaking, heart-rending, heart-wounding, heart-corroding, heart-sickening — harrowing, rending.
odious, hateful, execrable, repulsive, repellent, abhorrent — horrid, horrible, horrific, horrifying — offensive.
nauseous, nauseating — disgusting, sickening, revolting — nasty — loathsome, loathful^† — fulsome — vile etc. (bad) 649 — hideous etc. 846.
sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic — cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing — envenomed — catheretic^†, pyrotic [Med.].
ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, tragical — desolating, withering — burdensome, onerous, oppressive — cumbrous, cumbersome.

adverb

painfully etc. adj. — with pain etc. 828 — deuced.

interjection

hinc illae lachrymae! [Lat.],

phrase

surgit amari aliquid [Lat.] — the place being too hot to hold one — the iron entering into the soul — he jests at scars that never felt a wound" [Romeo and Juliet]; I must be cruel only to be kind" [Hamlet]; what deep wounds ever closed without a scar? [Byron].

The content on this page comes straight from Project Gutenberg Etext of Roget's Thesaurus No. Two, which consists of the acclaimed work by Peter Mark Roget augmented with more recent material. Some changes were made to the formatting for improved readability.

Bold numbers signify related Roget categories. A dagger symbol (†) indicates archaic words and expressions no longer in common use.

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