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noun physical pain ADJ. acute, agonizing, awful, excruciating, extreme, great, intense, severe, sharp, terrible, unbearable | burning, searing, shooting, stabbing, throbbing She had a burning pain in one eye. | dull, little, slight | chronic, constant, nagging, persistent | sudden | intermittent | physical | abdominal, back, chest, leg, muscle, shoulder, stomach She's been off work with back pain. He went to the doctor with chest pains. | growing, labour, period QUANT. spasm, stab VERB + PAIN be in, be racked with, experience, feel, get, go through, have, suffer (from) He was obviously in a great deal of pain. Can you feel any pain? Marathon runners are used to going through pain. He was taken to hospital suffering from severe abdominal pain. | cause, give sb, inflict His back gives him great pain. It's wrong to inflict pain on any animal. | increase, make worse | alleviate, control, deaden, do something for, dull, ease, help, kill, relieve, stop Your doctor should be able to do something for the pain. | bear, endure, put up with, stand, take | cry out in, cry with, groan with, scream with | be contorted with, contort in His face was contorted with pain as he crossed the finish line. PAIN + VERB begin, come The pains began shortly after she started work as a gardener. | shoot through/up A sharp pain shot up his leg. | grow stronger, increase, intensify | disappear, go, stop, wear off Has the pain gone yet? A few hours after he'd had his tooth out, the pain began to wear off. | come back, return PAIN + NOUN control, relief | threshold PREP. ~ in a pain in her side PHRASES aches and pains Eucalyptus oil is good for easing muscular aches and pains. | a cry of pain, a threshold for/of pain I have a very low threshold for pain. unhappiness ADJ. great, intense, terrible | emotional VERB + PAIN cause (sb), give sb, inflict Through her drug addiction she had inflicted a lot of pain on the family. | feel, go through | get over It took him several years to get over the pain of losing his job. | ease | spare sb We hoped to spare her the pain of having to meet her attacker. | express | conceal He tried to conceal his pain from her. | bear, endure | be worth The government has to persuade the people that the economic reforms are worth the pain.
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pain adjectives bad • Later that evening, the pain was really bad. terrible/awful • I woke up with a terrible pain in my side. severe/intense • Ever since the accident, Mike’s suffered from severe back pain. excruciating (= very severe ) • The pain in my eye was excruciating. a sharp pain (= short but severe ) • She felt a sharp pain in the back of her throat. a slight pain (= not severe ) • I’ve got a slight pain in my side. a dull pain (= a slight but continuous pain ) • There was a dull pain in his lower jaw. a nagging pain (= felt all the time ) • Rob felt fine, apart from a nagging pain in his left wrist. chronic pain (= pain that you suffer from for long periods of time ) • Many of the elderly patients suffer chronic pain. a shooting pain (= a severe pain that goes from one part of your body to another ) • The shooting pains in her arms and legs slowly began to die away. a searing pain (= very severe, as if you have been burnt ) • His elbow struck the side of the table, sending a searing pain through his arm. a stabbing pain (= sharp and sudden ) • Marcus heard a shot and felt a stabbing pain at the back of his ankle. a throbbing pain (= a pain that gets stronger and then weaker, in a steady continuous beat ) • I’ve still got this throbbing pain in my leg. back/chest/stomach etc pain • Many people suffer from back pain. abdominal pain • Several of the hotel’s guests had persistent abdominal pain and diarrhoea. physical pain • He couldn’t stand physical pain. labour pains British English , labor pains American English (= felt by a woman at the time she is having a baby ) • Becky was at work when labour pains began. verbs have a pain • I’ve got a terrible pain in my stomach. feel pain • The dentist told me that I wouldn’t feel any pain. be in pain • Despite being in great pain, he managed to call for help. suffer (from) pain • She suffers from chronic pain in her legs. inflict pain • The guards enjoyed inflicting pain on them. relieve/ease pain ( also alleviate pain formal ) (= make it less severe ) • Exercise can help to relieve lower back pain. experience pain formal • Animals caught in the trap experience great pain before they die. complain of pain (= say that you have a pain in a part of your body ) • After we finished our run, Tom complained of pains in his chest. the pain gets worse • If the pain gets any worse, see your doctor. the pain goes away ( also the pain subsides formal ) (= becomes less severe ) • He lay still until the pain had subsided to a dull ache. the pain comes and goes (= keeps starting and stopping ) • The pain comes and goes but it’s never too severe. pain + NOUN pain relief (= a drug or treatment that makes pain less severe ) • These drugs offer effective pain relief for the very sick. sb’s pain threshold (= their ability to bear pain ) • Everyone has a different pain threshold. phrases aches and pains • Everyone has a few aches and pains when they get older. COMMON ERRORS >>> Do not say ' big pain '. Say terrible pain or severe pain .