adjective
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not causing pain or distress
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not affected by pain
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of painless
Explanation
Anything that's painless doesn't hurt at all. A painless medical procedure (like having blood drawn) might be a little scary, but it's actually very easy. Getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist should be a painless process, although getting a filling sometimes hurts a little bit. A painless math test is simple and requires very little work or thought on your part — this is a figurative way to use painless, obviously, since no one would expect a math test to cause you physical pain, even if it's not your strongest subject.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet regime changes are rarely painless, and that might prove to be the case today.
From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026
To study these changes, the team relied on two painless techniques that can be used while a person rests quietly.
From Science Daily • Feb. 24, 2026
It is harmless, painless and does not affect vision.
From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026
Correggio has not made our experience simple or painless.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
In that singing, relaxed kind of voice she had that made everything sound painless, like it didn’t matter, like there were no big deals anywhere in the universe.
From "Winger" by Andrew Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
