PAINFULLY


Meaning of PAINFULLY in English

pain ‧ ful ‧ ly /ˈpeɪnf ə li/ BrE AmE adverb

[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ pained , ↑ painful ≠ ↑ painless ; verb : ↑ pain ; noun : ↑ pain ; adverb : ↑ painfully ≠ ↑ painlessly ]

1 . very – used to emphasize a bad or harmful quality that someone or something has:

painfully thin arms

As a teenager, I was painfully shy.

The road to peace is a painfully slow process.

We are only too painfully aware of the damage his actions have caused.

painfully obvious/clear/evident/apparent

It was painfully obvious he’d rather not see her again.

2 . with pain or causing pain:

Robyn swallowed painfully.

3 . needing a lot of effort:

all the knowledge that he had so painfully acquired

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.