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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of traumatic
Yours are pretty and exponentially better than that traumatic experience.
—
Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 May 2025
Is the idea that revisiting something as traumatic as, say, the death of your son, as if for the first time, would help people heal?
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 21 May 2025
The physical ailment is a new one for Stabler, who's survived numerous shootings throughout his years on the job and, most recently, a traumatic car accident at the start of this fifth season.
—Alex Ross, People.com, 21 May 2025
Brown plays Medwin Harris, a gregarious, larger-than-life type who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia and takes Wash on as his protégé.
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 May 2025
Is the idea that revisiting something as traumatic as, say, the death of your son, as if for the first time, would help people heal?
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 21 May 2025
The physical ailment is a new one for Stabler, who's survived numerous shootings throughout his years on the job and, most recently, a traumatic car accident at the start of this fifth season.
—Alex Ross, People.com, 21 May 2025
Brown plays Medwin Harris, a gregarious, larger-than-life type who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia and takes Wash on as his protégé.
—Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic
Adjective
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There’s no doubt that Lewis, abandoned as a baby by his parents, has done some horrible stuff.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
26 May 2025
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Given the horrible economic incentives that government regulation has created, the surprise is not that some patients experience mistreatment.—
John C. Goodman,
Forbes.com,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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Their boyfriends, meanwhile, suffer the painful indignities of paper cutters, buzzsaws, and other sharp objects.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
23 May 2025
-
Manu diving can hurt The researchers caution that the manu maneuver is not only difficult but can be risky and painful.—
Elizabeth Weise,
USA Today,
22 May 2025
Adjective
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Kids these days have attention spans crushed under the terrible weight of TikTok and Instgram.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
3 June 2025
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Heavy truck traffic has also contributed to terrible pollution in California’s Central Valley.—
Francine Kiefer,
Christian Science Monitor,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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The Valkyries, though, fought back to avoid an overwhelming rout.—
Fiifi Frimpong,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2025
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Crow-Armstrong, 23, is currently under club control through the 2030 season, meaning there isn’t an overwhelming sense of urgency.—
Patrick Mooney,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
Adjective
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For Armstrong, capturing the humanity of these men paints a more unsettling portrait than pure billionaire-trolling might.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
30 May 2025
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The main case under investigation is unsettling and satisfyingly intricate, with ample thematic connections to Morck, Akram and Rose’s respective forms of psychological damage.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
29 May 2025
Adjective
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Over the 18 games following a 21-run eruption against the historically awful Colorado Rockies, the Padres ranked last in the majors in OPS and third-to-last in runs per game.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
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The timing isn’t awful for SDFC, which doesn’t play its next league game until June 14 and expected Lozano to be absent possibly into early July on national-team duty.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2025
Adjective
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An Expert Weighs In What began as awkward quickly became unbearable.—
Ashley Vega,
People.com,
28 May 2025
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But, instead of improving, the pain intensified—spreading into my mid-back and becoming unbearable at night.—
Nicholas Creel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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Nothing has officially happened yet, but the tension is disturbing with the consequences potentially devastating.—
Mac Engel,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
27 May 2025
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That’s a quite disturbing possibility since AGI could wield such an act on a scale of immense magnitude and with globally adverse consequences.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 7 Jun. 2025.
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