as in horrible
causing great and lasting pain or distress
The family struggled to cope with the traumatic experience of losing their home.
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of traumatic
After a traumatic event, Tony comes to see the importance of self-confidence — and becoming his own hero too.
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Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 29 Nov. 2024
Relieving intense pain, such as that caused by surgery and traumatic injury, risks inducing the sort of pleasure that could leave patients addicted.
—Richard A. Friedman, The Atlantic, 29 Nov. 2024
They can be caused by everyday wear and tear, a single traumatic blow, or develop gradually over time due to repetitive overhead motions.
—Christopher Bergland, Verywell Health, 25 Nov. 2024
According to the Los Angeles County medical examiner, the elder Kobayashi died from blunt force traumatic injuries.
—Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for traumatic 
Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 29 Nov. 2024
Relieving intense pain, such as that caused by surgery and traumatic injury, risks inducing the sort of pleasure that could leave patients addicted.
—Richard A. Friedman, The Atlantic, 29 Nov. 2024
They can be caused by everyday wear and tear, a single traumatic blow, or develop gradually over time due to repetitive overhead motions.
—Christopher Bergland, Verywell Health, 25 Nov. 2024
According to the Los Angeles County medical examiner, the elder Kobayashi died from blunt force traumatic injuries.
—Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for traumatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic
Adjective
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Although there is high demand among students for internships and other work opportunities, our education-employer ecosystem is doing a horrible job delivering them.Brandon Busteed, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024
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Even as the country seeks to emerge from the legacy of those seven horrible years, however, a new government elected in 2023 has become the first since the fall of the dictatorship to justify the regime’s extrajudicial killings and violent repression.Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Survivor: Thailand The fake merge and brutal last challenge — where the final three had to hold coins between their fingers in a crazy painful pose — keep this dud out of the bottom spot.Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024
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Her symptoms were pretty challenging—a series of painful nodules that needed to be lanced and drained.Julia Ries, SELF, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Jack McBrayer plays a flustered resort concierge who delivers the terrible news to two bridezilla-esque adults who won’t be walking down the aisle in white but are still very invested in the nuptials.Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 11 Dec. 2024
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Food is terrible, the vibe is off, absolutely trash.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The whiskey aisle at your local wine and spirits store can be overwhelming.Sam Stone, Bon Appétit, 17 Dec. 2024
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The key here is to keep the shapes sleek, so the metallic doesn’t feel too overwhelming.Christina Holevas, Vogue, 17 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Concerns With Imported Toys The report highlights a number of unsettling realities surrounding toys purchased by U.S. consumers directly from online retailers located overseas.Mia Taylor, Parents, 27 Nov. 2024
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Simply sharing the final score — Dallas Cowboys 34, Washington Commanders 26 — does not come close to explaining the bizarre ending and unsettling ways the home team lost with contributions from all three phases.Ben Standig, The Athletic, 24 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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But even if the company succeeds, internet users have a way of pushing the boundaries of new tools like this until every possible awful output has been demonstrated.Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 10 Dec. 2024
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As a unit, the Bengals defense has been awful, only scoring four PPG, which is the 4th least in the NFL.Steve Bradshaw, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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With temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, our home felt like a sauna — an unbearable environment, especially for a newborn at risk of heat stroke.Omaid Homayun, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024
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Even her description of chemotherapy—her stomach outlined, her internal organs individually asserting themselves—suggests that what her ordeal gave her was a kind of unbearable self-awareness.Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Duchamp spent the last twenty years of his life working in secret on a three-dimensional tableau vivant of a naked, headless female body in a realistic landscape, a strangely disturbing image that is both a summary of his meta-retinal art and a total departure from it.Calvin Tomkins, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024
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One of the more disturbing results was from the dinner party at the Brooklyn apartment of my ProPublica colleague.Topher Sanders, ProPublica, 9 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near traumatic
Cite this Entry
“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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