pain — OET · Shobdo

pain

noun

1 it seemed impossible that anyone could endure such pain for so long:

suffering, agony, affliction, torture, torment, discomfort, soreness.

2 she had a dull pain in her stomach:

ache, aching, soreness, hurt, throb, throbbing, smarting, pricking, sting, stinging, twinge, shooting pain, stab, pang, spasm;

stitch, cramp;

discomfort, irritation, stiffness, tenderness.

3 the pain of losing a loved one:

sorrow, grief, heartache, heartbreak, sadness, unhappiness, distress, desolation, misery, wretchedness, despair, desperation, mental suffering, emotional suffering, trauma;

bitterness, anguish, affliction, tribulation, vexation, woe, agony, torment, torture.

4 that child is a pain:

nuisance, pest, bother, vexation, irritant, source of irritation/annoyance, worry, problem, inconvenience, trial, tribulation, plague, source of aggravation, bore, thorn in the flesh, the bane of one's life;

informal pain in the neck, drag;

vulgar slang pain in the arse.

5 (pains) he took great pains to hide his feelings:

care, effort, bother, trouble, labour, exertion, strain, struggle.

□ be at pains

they were at pains to put him at ease:

try hard, make a great effort, make an effort, make every effort, spare no effort, take (great) pains, take care, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself;

strive, endeavour, try, struggle, battle, labour, toil, strain, work, aim;

do one's best, do all one can, do one's utmost, give (it) one's all, go all out;

informal bend/fall/lean over backwards, give it one's best shot.

verb

1 her foot is still paining her:

hurt, cause pain, be painful, be sore, ache, throb, smart, burn, prickle, sting, pinch, twinge, cause discomfort, be tender;

informal kill;

British, informal play up.

2 the memory of the event still pains her:

sadden, grieve, distress, make miserable/wretched, trouble, worry, bother, perturb, disturb, oppress, harrow, cause anguish to, afflict;

cut to the quick, mortify, torment, torture, wound, sting, gnaw at.

word links	pain
-algia pain in a part of the body, as in neuralgia analgesic medicine for reducing pain anaesthetic drug making one unable to feel pain anaesthesiology branch of medicine concerning insensitivity to pain

pain Oxford Dictionary of English