a. 1. Full of pain; causing uneasiness or distress, either physical or mental; afflictive; disquieting; distressing. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with laborious effort; as a painful service; a painful march. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Painstaking; careful; industrious. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ] A very painful person, and a great clerk. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ] Nor must the painful husbandman be tired. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] Syn. -- Disquieting; troublesome; afflictive; distressing; grievous; laborious; toilsome; difficult; arduous. [ 1913 Webster ] -- Pain"ful*ly, adv. -- Pain"ful*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ] |