Link Centre Dictionary

pain

UK/ˈpen/ US/ˈpeɪ̯n/ very common
noun (5) verb (2)

noun

1.

a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder

  • “the patient developed severe pain and distension”
Synonyms
2.

emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid

  • “the pain of loneliness”
Synonyms
Antonyms
3.

a somatic sensation of acute discomfort

  • “as the intensity increased the sensation changed from tickle to pain”
Synonyms
4.

a bothersome annoying person

  • “that kid is a terrible pain”
Synonyms
5.

something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness

  • “washing dishes was a nuisance before we got a dish washer”
  • “a bit of a bother”
  • “he”
  • “s an infliction”
Synonyms

verb

1.
2.

cause emotional anguish or make miserable

  • “It pains me to see my children not being taught well in school”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English peyne, payne, from Old French and Anglo-Norman peine, paine, from Latin poena (“punishment, pain”), from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “bloodmoney, weregild, fine, price paid, penalty”), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂ (“payment”) (whence also Proto-Slavic *cěnà (“price”)). Doublet of peine. Compare Danish pine, Norwegian Bokmål pine, German Pein, Dutch pijn, Afrikaans pyn. See also pine (the verb). Partly displaced native Old English sār (whence Modern English sore).

Phrases

  • back pain
  • central pain syndrome
  • complex regional pain syndrome
  • congenital insensitivity to pain
  • feel no pain
  • feel someone's pain
  • feeling no pain
  • growing pains

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Causes

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.