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Painful vs Wince - What's the difference?

painful | wince |

As an adjective painful

is causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

As a noun wince is

a sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.

As a verb wince is

to flinch as if in pain or distress.

painful

English

(wikipedia painful)

Alternative forms

* painfull (archaic)

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

    Synonyms

    * (full of pain) doleful, sorrowful, irksome, annoying * (requiring labor or toil) laborious, exerting

    Antonyms

    * (causing pain) painless, painfree

    Derived terms

    * painfully * painfulness

    wince

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden movement or gesture of shrinking away.
  • A reel used in dyeing, steeping, or washing cloth; a winch. It is placed over the division wall between two wince pits so as to allow the cloth to descend into either compartment at will.

    • Verb

    (winc)
  • To flinch as if in pain or distress.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • I will not stir, nor wince , nor speak a word.
  • * , chapter=17
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1935, author=
    • , title=The Norwich Victims, chapter=7/2 citation , passage=The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.}}
  • To wash (cloth), dip it in dye, etc., with the use of a wince.
  • To kick or flounce when unsteady or impatient.