pain

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Suffering Noun

1. pain, suffering, sufferance; hurt, cut; discomfort, painfulness; discomfort, malaise; nightmare; anguish, agony, misery, excruciation, torment, torture, rack; Weltschmerz; distress, affliction (see adversity). See dejection, hell, disease, lamentation, punishment.

2. (symptoms) aches and pains; ache, aching, sore[ness]; smart, sting, burn[ing], tingle; acute, sharp, piercing, throbbing, shooting, gnawing, or burning pain; twinge, pang, stab, pinch; cramp, paroxysm, spasm (see agitation, violence); gripe, stomachache, heartburn, colic; headache, migraine; backache, earache, toothache, etc. Informal, tummy-ache, collywobbles, gripes, mulligrubs.

3. (causes) shock, blow; distress, affliction, woe, bitterness; lovesickness; heartache; misery, tribulation, wretchedness, desolation; despair; extremity, prostration, depth of misery; hell on earth. See adversity.

4. instrument of torture (see punishment).

Verb

1. feel, experience, suffer, endure, or undergo pain; suffer, ache, smart; sting, tingle, shoot; twinge, twitch, writhe, wince; make a wry face, cry out; go through the mill, have one's cross to bear.

2. (cause physical pain) give, cause, or inflict pain; pain, hurt, wound, chafe, sting, bite, gnaw, gripe; pinch, tweak, grate, gall, fret, prick, pierce, wring, convulse; harrow, torment, torture, rack, agonize, crucify, excruciate; break on the wheel, put on the rack; spank, beat, thrash, flog (see punishment).

3. (cause moral pain) sicken, disgust, revolt, nauseate, disenchant; repel, offend, shock, stink in the nostrils; turn the stomach; make one sick, set the teeth on edge; rankle, gnaw, corrode. See discontent.

Adjectives

1. in pain, suffering, pained, harrowed, afflicted, aching, griped, sore, raw; on the rack; agonized, tortured, crucified, racked, broken on the wheel.

2. painful, hurting, hurtful; dolorous; cutting, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing.

3. intolerable, insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unendurable; more than flesh and blood can bear; enough to drive one mad.

4. distressing, afflicting, afflictive; grievous; woeful, rueful, mournful, deplorable, lamentable; affecting, touching. See adversity.

Phrases — crosses are ladders that lead to heaven; no pain, no gain.

Quotations — If you bear the cross gladly, it will bear you (Thomas à Kempis), He jests at scars, that never felt a wound (Shakespeare), Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark, and shares the nature of infinity (Wordsworth), What does not kill me makes me stronger (Friedrich Nietzsche).

Antonyms, see pleasure.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Suffering, physical or mental]

Syn. hurt, anguish, distress, discomfort, disorder, agony, misery, crucifixion, martyrdom, wretchedness, shock, torture, torment, passion; see also injury 1 .

Ant. health*, well-being, ease.

2. [Suffering, usually physical]

Syn. ache, twinge, catch, throb, throe, spasm, cramp, gripe, stitch, torture, malady, sickness, rack, laceration, paroxysm, soreness, fever, burning, prick, torment, distress, agony, affliction, discomfort, hurt, pang, wound, strain, sting, burn, crick; see also illness 1 , injury 1 .

Specific kinds of pains (including aches) include: housemaid's knee, tennis elbow, shin splint, arthritis, arthritic pain, rheumatism, inflammatory rheumatism, gout, peritonitis, bursitis, earache, headache, stomachache, bellyache, toothache, backache.

3. [Suffering, usually mental]

Syn. despondency, worry, anxiety; see depression 2 , grief 1 , sadness .

4. [Effort; used in plural ]

Syn. effort, endeavor, care; see effort .

See Synonym Study at effort .

• feeling no pain*,

Syn. intoxicated, inebriated, stoned*; see drunk .

• upon or [m1]• under pain of,

Syn. at the risk of, in danger of, risking; see gambling .

v.

Syn. distress, grieve, trouble; see hurt 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. physical hurt ache, suffering, agony, discomfort, sensation, irritation, torture, torment, soreness, tenderness, smarting, twinge, pang, spasm, throbbing, stabbing, burning, sharp pain, chafing, clamping, cramping, searing pain, stitch.

2. mental anguish distress, anguish, misery, torment, anxiety, worry, grief, woe, heartache, travail.

3. Sl. pain in the neck pest, bother, headache, annoyance, trouble, nuisance.

ANT.: ease, comfort, relief.

WORD FIND

physical pain

• facial expressions: wince, grimace, teeth-gritting, teeth-clamping, snarl of agony, cringe, clamp eyes shut, pout, wounded look in the eyes, face drawn and pinched, pale, blanched, twisted/contorted in pain, brows furrowed deeply

• body language: writhing, thrashing, stiffening, convulsing, throes, doubling over, squirming, cringing, balling fists, gulping, recoiling, rocking in fetal position

II

v.

hurt, smart, sting, bother, irritate, harm, excruciate, distress, wound, torture, torment, afflict, annoy.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. A sensation of physical discomfort occurring as the result of disease or injury: ache, pang, prick, prickle, smart, soreness, stab, sting, stitch, throe, twinge. Informal: misery. See PAIN. 2. A state of physical or mental suffering: affliction, agony, anguish, distress, hurt, misery, torment, torture, woe, wound, wretchedness. See HAPPY. 3. Attentiveness to detail. Used in plural: care, carefulness, fastidiousness, meticulousness, painstaking, punctiliousness, scrupulousness, thoroughness. See CAREFUL. 4. The use of energy to do something. Used in plural: effort, endeavor, exertion, strain1, striving, struggle, trouble, while. Informal: elbow grease. See WORK. 5. Informal One that makes another totally miserable by causing sharp pain and irritation: thorn, trial. Idioms: pain in the neck, thorn in the flesh (or side). See PAIN. II verb 1. To cause suffering or painful sorrow to: aggrieve, distress, grieve, hurt, injure, wound. See HAPPY. 2. To have or cause a feeling of physical pain or discomfort: ache, hurt, pang, twinge. See PAIN.