Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
💊 Relieving pain 💗 Easing sadness
painkilling

painkilling

1 3.4
That reduces physical pain, often by using medicine
  • adjective
  • /ˈpeɪnˌkɪlɪŋ/
: analgésico
  • The doctor prescribed a painkilling medication to help with my recovery after surgery.

Now, morphine is one of the most powerful painkilling drugs ever created.

Examples

  • After the injury, he took a painkilling drug to relieve his discomfort.

  • The hospital provided painkilling treatments for patients suffering from chronic pain.

  • It's like painkilling and algesia, natural ones, very strong inside of us.

Synonyms

soothing
vspainkilling
75 2.9

That makes pain or worry feel less strong

reduces physical pain with a stronger emphasis on medical treatment
analgesic
vspainkilling
  • Specialized
2 6.2

Able to reduce pain

is relief of physical pain often expressed as medical treatment
antalgic
vspainkilling
  • Specialized
8.3

Making pain feel less strong

focuses on relieving physical pain especially by medication
alleviative
vspainkilling
  • Formal
7.7

To make pain, suffering, or difficulty less

targets physical pain more narrowly often through medicines

How Painkilling

anesthetic
  • Specialized
2 5.7
numbing
11 4.2
painkilling
1 3.4
soothing
75 2.9

Surface Forms

painkilling positive

Morphology

painkilling = pain + kill (transparent) = pain + kill + ing

The adjective is a clear compound of 'pain' + 'killing' (i.e., killing pain), so learners who know 'pain' and 'kill' can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Painkilling comes from the two words pain and killing, literally 'killing the pain'. So it means something, like a medicine, that 'stops' or 'reduces' physical pain.