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