💊 Relieving pain 💗 Easing sadness

painkilling

4.4

That reduces emotional pain for a short time by giving comfort

adjective
/ˈpeɪnˌkɪlɪŋ/

: calmante

Listening to music had a painkilling effect on her after the breakup.

Examples

The support of friends was a painkilling comfort during her difficult time.
He sought painkilling distractions to help him cope with his loss.
She found the painkilling therapy to be quite effective.
After the breakup, he sought painkilling activities to distract himself.
Listening to music provided a painkilling effect that helped her through her heartbreak.
He turned to painkilling hobbies, like painting, to ease his emotional suffering.
Reading fiction offered a painkilling escape from the stress of daily life.

Synonyms

soothing

vspainkilling

81 2.9

That makes pain or worry feel less strong

provides brief numbness or comfort rather than gentle calming

palliative

vspainkilling

Specialized

15 7.7

Relieving pain or other symptoms without curing the cause

eases emotional pain temporarily instead of solving the root cause

analgesic

vspainkilling

Specialized

2 6.2

Able to reduce pain

focuses on reducing psychological pain through comfort or numbness

How Soothing

numbing

1 4.2

painkilling

4.4

soothing

81 2.9

comforting

134 1.4

consoling

1 3.4

Surface Forms

painkilling positive

Morphology

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

Although applied to emotional pain, the construction 'pain' + 'killing' still transparently means 'reducing pain', which learners can infer.

Etymology

Painkilling comes from the two words pain and killing, literally 'killing the pain'. A helpful way to remember the emotional sense is to think of music or friends as 'painkilling' because they can 'take away' or soften emotional hurt for a while.