adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
painfully obvious (= very obvious, and embarrassing or upsetting )
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It became painfully obvious that she and Edward had nothing in common.
painfully shy (= extremely shy )
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As a teenager, I was painfully shy .
painfully slow (= much too slow )
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The legal system can be painfully slow .
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
apparent
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At Pontypool, the collision between a precise, scientific industry and a diffuse, unscientific local suspicion is painfully apparent .
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But the limits of his approach to the job have become painfully apparent .
aware
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I have quoted the passage from which the phrase comes, showing how Wells was painfully aware of our duality.
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I am painfully aware of this fact.
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Chapman was painfully aware that he had underestimated the task at Walsall.
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I am painfully aware of how we get caught up in our times and become contaminated by our own hypocrisy.
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He answered the door himself, and she was painfully aware that once again his eyes seemed to study every part of her.
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As you are painfully aware , when it comes to being handy, I can barely work a shower curtain.
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And as he drew nearer, Cornelius became painfully aware of a curious buzzing sound in his ears.
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Folly was painfully aware that she was acting completely unreasonably.
clear
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It is becoming painfully clear , however, that students at Stirling University can no longer afford to take their Association for granted.
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This process makes the long-term costs of decisions painfully clear to the press and the public.
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Sometimes the pitfalls in not looking at it from all these angles become painfully clear .
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During that long hospital stay, it became painfully clear that I had two choices.
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The risk of denying all of these at once had been painfully clear in 833.
evident
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It was soon painfully evident that the fears of the University Council regarding a minority plot to unseat them were justified.
hard
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Granted, inflation is painfully hard to cure once it has taken off.
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It was still painfully hard for many of the students to sustain a conversation.
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For Louis the Pious's following, the choice was painfully hard .
obvious
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She had resented Eline from the first moment and made her hate of Joe Harries painfully obvious .
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Should the government reduce the actual frequency of tragedies, or should it simply make them less painfully obvious ?
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Statistics aren't necessary to document what is painfully obvious .
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It was soon painfully obvious who the winner was in this contest.
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It was becoming painfully obvious that apart from a brief, overpowering lust there was no reciprocation of her fragile feelings.
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Perhaps the most important of those things seems painfully obvious , at least to wine country insiders.
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It has become even more painfully obvious now.
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For all her cheerfulness it was painfully obvious that she was feeling awful.
shy
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I retreated into my shell, being painfully shy in the first place.
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Riddlesberger is particularly engaging as a painfully shy techno-nerd.
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The result was that I was painfully shy .
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I am considered to be fairly outgoing but as a teenager I was painfully shy .
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From being a painfully shy , diffident recluse, he suddenly metamorphosed into a garrulous and sometimes painfully overbearing extrovert.
slow
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Although painfully slow , it meant he could construct small sentences.
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But the council got off to a painfully slow start.
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Still, too many of them, like too many people throughout the division, remained painfully slow in taking action.
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In spite of this painfully slow start, today he is a millionaire.
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Piecemeal Development Attempting to build a school-to-work system company by company and school by school is painfully slow .
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There is every indication that youth apprenticeships will continue to grow in the United States, but at a painfully slow rate.
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The painfully slow elevators, whose speed can be measured in millimeters per hour.
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The school building program -.. is creeping along at a painfully slow clip.
thin
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Anorexics have a false idea of their own appearance, seeing themselves as fat even when they have become painfully thin .
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She was painfully thin and there was an insubstantiality about her.
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In spite of this, she became painfully thin .
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In shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, he looked almost painfully thin .
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She was beautiful - painfully thin , but beautiful, even with the ravages of drug abuse drawing her face.
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Like her brother she was painfully thin , but otherwise they seemed utterly unlike, despite being twins.
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She wasn't just slim, she was painfully thin .
■ VERB
become
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It is becoming painfully clear, however, that students at Stirling University can no longer afford to take their Association for granted.
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During that long hospital stay, it became painfully clear that I had two choices.
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Anorexics have a false idea of their own appearance, seeing themselves as fat even when they have become painfully thin.
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Sometimes the pitfalls in not looking at it from all these angles become painfully clear.
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In spite of this, she became painfully thin.
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And as he drew nearer, Cornelius became painfully aware of a curious buzzing sound in his ears.
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But the limits of his approach to the job have become painfully apparent.
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It was becoming painfully obvious that apart from a brief, overpowering lust there was no reciprocation of her fragile feelings.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a painfully learned lesson
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At first, Andrews had found it painfully uncomfortable to play in public.
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Her rings dug painfully into my fingers.
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Muriel watched her father die painfully of cancer.
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Rebuilding the damaged bridge will be painfully slow.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Anorexics have a false idea of their own appearance, seeing themselves as fat even when they have become painfully thin.
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Blacks, however, remain painfully aggrieved.
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Finally he found his way painfully back to the house, and closed the door.
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In spite of this painfully slow start, today he is a millionaire.
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It was soon painfully obvious who the winner was in this contest.
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She had resented Eline from the first moment and made her hate of Joe Harries painfully obvious.
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She was making deep eye contact with me and a couple of her rings were digging into my fingers rather painfully .
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The smaller Chelonian whirled about and kicked him painfully in the ribs.