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painless

painless

39 1.0
Not causing physical hurt or emotional upset
  • adjective
  • /ˈpeɪnləs/
translation icon : indoloro
  • Patients typically present with a painless midline swelling below the hyoid bone.
  • a painless procedure
  • a painless mass
  • a painless swelling

And Trump, it's a painless death, you know, beautiful creature.

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Examples

  • A 6-year-old boy presented with a painless right neck swelling that had been present for about 6 months

    Academic text (2010)
  • The aim is to create safe, painless, and cost-effective techniques to image the body and treat diseases.

    Academic text (2007)
  • It's been completely painless, just as you said it would be.

  • I just wanted it to be painless.

  • It's totally painless and it's called I Restore.

  • It's gentle, it's safe, it's painless, and that lots of the clients are nervous about it initially, like I was growing back thicker.

  • The patient was a 65-year-old woman who presented with a painless mass in the right preauricular region.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Typically breast cancer is painless, but there are some forms of inflammatory breast cancer that will cause pain in the breast.

  • She liked to say that because the test would be so user friendly and painless and cheap that people would get their blood tested more often.

  • The dental procedure was completely painless, leaving the patient feeling relaxed and at ease.

Synonyms

pain-free
vspainless
9 3.2

Not causing any physical pain

also applies when feelings are free from distress as well
unpainful
vspainless
4.6

Causing no pain

explicitly focuses on being free from both physical and emotional pain

Antonyms

737 1.0

Making someone feel physical hurt or strong emotional upset

How Painful

agonizing
  • US
7 5.9
painful
737 1.0
uncomfortable
713 1.7
painless
39 1.0
comfortable
494 1.0

Surface Forms

painless positive
painlesser comparative
painlessest superlative

Morphology

painless = pain (transparent) = pain + less

The adjective is directly formed from the noun 'pain' plus the productive suffix '-less' meaning 'without', so the meaning is directly inferable.

Etymology

Painless comes from pain + -less, and -less means 'without', just like in careless. Picture a doctor who works so gently you feel no hurt, 'without pain'. So painless means 'not causing any physical or emotional pain'.