ADJ
acute, agonizing, awful, excruciating, extreme, great | unbearable
burning, searing, shooting, stabbing, throbbing
He woke up with a sharp stabbing pain in his lower back.
dull, little, slight | chronic | sudden | intermittent | physical
muscle, shoulder, stomach
After playing tennis, he complained of sharp muscle pain in his arm.
growing, labour, period
QUANT
spasm, stab
VERB + PAIN
be in, be racked with, experience, feel, get, go through, have, suffer (from)
After the accident, she experienced sharp pain in her shoulder for several weeks.
cause, give sb, inflict
Dental work can cause severe pain if the dentist doesn't use enough anesthetic.
increase, make worse
alleviate, control, deaden, do something for, dull, ease, help, kill, relieve, stop
The new medicine helped ease her back pain within just a few hours.
bear, endure, put up with, stand, take | cry out in, cry with, groan with, scream with
be contorted with, contort in
Her expression contorted in pain when she twisted her ankle during the match.
PAIN + VERB
begin, come
Sharp pains came on suddenly when he lifted the heavy box.
shoot through/up
When she stood up too quickly, a sudden pain shot through her lower back.
grow stronger, increase, intensify
disappear, go, stop, wear off
After taking medicine, her headache slowly began to wear off during the afternoon.
come back, return
PAIN + NOUN
control, relief | threshold
PREP
~ in
My back hurts whenever I sit for too long, especially the pain in my lower back.
PHRASES
aches and pains
After a long day at work, she complained about all her various aches and pains.
a cry of pain, a threshold for/of pain
When she touched the hot pan, she let out a cry of pain and ran to the sink.
ADJ
great, intense, terrible | emotional
VERB + PAIN
cause (sb), give sb, inflict
The accident caused him severe pain that lasted for several weeks.
feel, go through
get over
After the accident, she struggled for months before finally getting over the pain.
ease
spare sb
His parents decided not to tell him the truth to spare him unnecessary pain.
express
conceal
She concealed the pain in her shoulder during the entire interview.
bear, endure
be worth
Learning a new language is worth the pain when you finally understand a whole conversation.