painfully

adverb

as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief painfully she recounted the difficult relationship she had with her mother

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of painfully For residents, the reservoir nonetheless remains a painfully visible symbol of the city’s shortcomings. — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026 But the editorial process was painfully slow, and the business model was doomed by the dot-com crash. — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026 The penalty is invisible on a drawing, but painfully visible in the field. — Stephen Farrugia, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026 Finally, there’s the moral cost of slowly, painfully killing hundreds of millions of egg-laying hens and turkeys. — Kenny Torrella, Vox, 20 Oct. 2026 Revived for the first time since 2011, this production, directed by John Benjamin Hickey, is gutting, witty and painfully timely. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 19 Oct. 2026 Tegan & Sara’s painfully catchy tune for the 2014 movie relies on bouncing dance beats and repetition to bore its way straight into your brain. — Stephanie Ganz Published, Parents, 18 Oct. 2026 Yet, this Sunflower Showdown reached a familiar ending, with the Jayhawk faithful painfully enduring an 18th straight defeat Saturday. — Kansas City Star, 17 Oct. 2026 Nothing gets the world going like arbitrarily taking sides in an argument based on painfully incomplete information. — Air Mail, 17 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for painfully
  1. bitterly
  2. sadly
  3. sorrowfully
  4. hard
Adverb
  • The race is widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu's nearly unbroken 17-year rule, which had left Israelis bitterly divided on a host of issues even before the deadliest attack in the country's history.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Oct. 2026
  • The race was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s nearly unbroken 17-year rule, which had left Israelis bitterly divided on a host of issues even before the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
    — Tia Goldenberg, Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of bitterly
Adverb
  • Political and legal debates date back to ancient Rome and have been a key part of our nation, beginning with Lincoln-Douglas, yet experts say, sadly, are no longer perceived as necessary.
    — Jennifer McLogan, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • There is of course another way to hear ABBA songs sung live onstage, though sadly without Greek island backdrops or background singers wearing floppy swim fins.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of sadly
Adverb
  • Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden.
    — Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025
Definition of sorrowfully
Adverb
  • With nearly 60 murders per day, South Africa has one of the world's highest crime rates, and several of Cape Town's townships are among the areas hardest hit by violent crime.
    — Julie Bourdin, NPR, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Eisenkot believes Netanyahu has purposefully made that process harder.
    — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of hard

Browse Nearby Words

painful
painfully
paining
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Cite this Entry

“Painfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/painfully. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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