PAINFULNESS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

The quality of being painful

Example:

she feared the painfulness of childbirth

Synonyms:

distressingness; painfulness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("painfulness" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "painfulness"):

sharpness (the quality of being keenly and painfully felt)

Derivation:

painful (causing physical discomfort)

painful (causing physical or psychological pain)

Meaning:

Emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid

Example:

the pain of loneliness

Synonyms:

pain; painfulness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("painfulness" is a kind of...):

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "painfulness"):

growing pains (emotional distress arising during adolescence)

unpleasantness (the feeling caused by disagreeable stimuli; one pole of a continuum of states of feeling)

mental anguish (sustained dull painful emotion)

hurt; suffering (feelings of mental or physical pain)

distress; hurt; suffering (psychological suffering)

Derivation:

painful (causing physical or psychological pain)

painful (causing misery or pain or distress)