PA'INFUL, a. Giving pain, uneasiness or distress to the body; as a painful operation in surgery.
1. Giving pain to the mind; afflictive; disquieting; distressing. Evils have been more painful to us in the prospect, than in the actual pressure.2. Full of pain; producing misery or affliction.3. Requiring labor or toil; difficult; executed with laborious effort; as a painful service. The army had a painful march.4. Laborious; exercising labor; undergoing toil; industrious. Nor must the painful husbandman be tired.