different between burdensome vs painful

English

Etymology

burden +? -some

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b??.d?n.s?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?.d?n.s?m/

Adjective

burdensome (comparative more burdensome, superlative most burdensome)

1. Characteristic of a burden; arduous or demanding
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of morals, London: Oxford University Press (1973 ed.), § 6:

     . . . reap a pleasure from what, to the generality of mankind, may seem burdensome and laborious.

Synonyms

• (of or like a burden): arduous, demanding, exacting, onerous, taxing

Related terms

• burden

Derived terms

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• painfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English paynful, peinful, peynful, paynefull, peynefull, equivalent to pain +? -ful. Compare Danish pinefuld (“painful”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pe?n.f?l/

Adjective

painful (comparative painfuller or more painful, superlative painfullest or most painful)

1. Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental. [from 14th c.]
2. Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person). [from 15th c.]
3. Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious. [from 15th c.]
4. (now rare) Painstaking; careful; industrious. [from 16th c.]
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 142:

     The men bestow their times in fishing, hunting, warres, and such manlike exercises, scorning to be seene in any woman-like exercise, which is the cause that the women be very painefull, and the men often idle.

   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, Book 2, Ch. 2

     For twenty generations, here was the earthly arena where painful living men worked out their life-wrestle

5. (informal) Very bad, poor.

   His violin playing is painful.

Synonyms

• (full of pain): doleful, sorrowful, smartful, irksome, annoying
• (requiring labor or toil): laborious, exerting

Antonyms

• (causing pain): painless, painfree

Derived terms

• painfully
• painfulness

Translations