Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Peter Mark Roget

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

— N. painfulness &c adj.; trouble, care &c (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 &c (bane) 663; scorpion &c (evil doer) 913; dagger &c (arms) 727; scourge &c (instrument of punishment) 975; carking care, canker worm of care. mishap, misfortune &c (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 &c 929; head and front of one's offending [Othello]. infestation, molestation; malignity &c (malevolence) 907. V. cause pain, occasion pain, give pain, bring pain, induce pain, produce pain, create pain, inflict pain &c 828; pain, hurt, wound. pinch, prick, gripe &c (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 &c 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 &c (resentment) 900. maltreat, bite, snap at, assail; smite &c (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 grave; add a nail to one's coffin. Adj. causing pain, hurting &c v.; hurtful &c (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 &c (bad) 649; hideous &c 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. Adv. painfully &c adj.; with pain &c 828; deuced. Int. hinc illae lachrymae! [Lat.], Phr. 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].