Dictionary

painfully en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈpeɪnfəli/

Etymology

From Middle English peinfully, paynefully, equivalent to painful + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a painful manner; as if in pain.
   • I limped painfully down the stairs.
   • The unsufficiency and uncandidness of his answer became painfully apparent in the dead silence of the room. 1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter IX, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, London: Bernhard Tauchnitz, published 1907, →OCLC, page 193:
2. (informal) Badly; poorly.
   • That was the most painfully sung rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” that I’ve ever heard.

Forms

Translations (18)

hu fájdalmasan (in a painful manner) · es dolorosamente (in a painful manner) · de schmerzhaft (in a painful manner) · ru бо́льно (in a painful manner) · fr douloureusement (in a painful manner) · fr péniblement (in a painful manner) · fi tuskallisesti (in a painful manner) · bg боле́знено (in a painful manner) · fi kivuliaasti (in a painful manner) · ru боле́зненно (in a painful manner) · pl boleśnie (in a painful manner) · ca dolorosament (in a painful manner) · eo pene (in a painful manner) · gl dolorosamente (in a painful manner) · ru мучи́тельно (in a painful manner) · it dolorosamente (in a painful manner) · pt dolorosamente (in a painful manner) · sv plågsamt (in a painful manner)