Adjective

(en-adj)

Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

Afflicted or suffering with pain (of a body part or, formerly, of a person).

Requiring effort or labor; difficult, laborious.

* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 142:

The men bestow their times in fishing, hunting, warres, and such manlike exercises, scorning to be seene in any woman-like exercise, which is the cause that the women be very painefull , and the men often idle.

* 1843 , , Book 2, Ch. 2

For twenty generations, here was the earthly arena where painful living men worked out their life-wrestle

Adjective

(er)

*

*2006 , Marie Fontaine, The Chronicles of my Ghetto Street Volume One , p. 156:

*:I really don't have any friends at school Mama Mia. They talk about me all the time. They say my hair's nappy and my clothes are nasty .

*{{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty

, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty , brutish and short.}}

Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).

*1897 , (Bram Stoker), Dracula :

*:Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty .

Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.

*1838 , (Charles Dickens), Oliver Twist :

*:‘It's a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish.

Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.

*1933 , (Dorothy L Sayers), Murder Must Advertise :

*:He said to Mr. Tallboy he thought the headline was a bit hot. And Mr. Tallboy said he had a nasty mind.

*2009 , Okera H, Be Your Priority, Not His Option , Mill City Press 2009, p. 45:

*:We want threesomes, blowjobs, and orgies. That's just the way it is. We want the good girl who's nasty in bed.

Spiteful, unkind.

*2012 , The Guardian , 3 Jun 2012:

*:She had said: "I love the block button on Twitter. I don't know how people expect to send a nasty comment and not get blocked."

*2007 , The Observer , 5 Aug 2007:

*:There was a nasty period during the First World War when the family's allegiance was called into question - not least because one of the Schroders had been made a baron by the Kaiser.

*2012 , James Ball, The Guardian , 2 Mar 2012:

*:Moving into the middle ages, William the Conqueror managed to rout the English and rule the country, then see off numerous plots and assassination attempts, before his horse did for him in a nasty fall, killing him at 60.