as in horrible
causing great and lasting pain or distress
The family struggled to cope with the traumatic experience of losing their home.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of traumatic
The six-episode series, co-produced by Ram and Amita Madhvani, was born partly from a traumatic encounter that has haunted the filmmaker for decades.
—
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025
Now, after a long and sometimes traumatic journey, Michael and Tanya are married, touring, winning all sorts of awards, and set to release their fifth album together, and their fourth as The War and Treaty.
—Sid Evans, Southern Living, 4 Mar. 2025
As expected, the diagnosis was traumatic for both Wade who was in his early forties at the time.
—Elizabeth Ayoola, Essence, 28 Feb. 2025
Shari has been particularly vocal, describing her childhood as traumatic and calling for child protection laws for online influencers.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025
Now, after a long and sometimes traumatic journey, Michael and Tanya are married, touring, winning all sorts of awards, and set to release their fifth album together, and their fourth as The War and Treaty.
—Sid Evans, Southern Living, 4 Mar. 2025
As expected, the diagnosis was traumatic for both Wade who was in his early forties at the time.
—Elizabeth Ayoola, Essence, 28 Feb. 2025
Shari has been particularly vocal, describing her childhood as traumatic and calling for child protection laws for online influencers.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for traumatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for traumatic
Adjective
-
Some compare Sanders to Geno Smith — not flattering, but not horrible.—
Troy Renck,
Orlando Sentinel,
2 Mar. 2025
-
Everybody's going to be thrown, according to , into all these horrible situations.—
Hugh Cameron,
Newsweek,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
While that decline was painful for COST holders, the stock bottomed in mid-May, five months before the S & P 500 ultimately found its own low in October 2022.—
Frank Cappelleri,
CNBC,
12 Mar. 2025
-
Like witnessing a bad car crash, Ye’s (formerly known as Kanye West) latest episodes of hate speech and misogyny have been painful to watch and continue to elicit shock and dismay from every corner of the entertainment world.—
David Renzer,
Rolling Stone,
12 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Traditional networks grant access just because a device is on the network, which is a terrible idea.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes,
11 Mar. 2025
-
Other adults in the room opt to avert their eyes as Jamie disrobes, but Eddie can’t turn away, out of a mix of protectiveness and horrified shock, in the same way that there’s no editor to protect the characters, the actors, or the audience from having to live in each terrible moment of the scene.—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Maybe that was just a coincidence, but the response was overwhelming as people from all over the world thanked him and sent their support.—
Daniel Wine,
CNN,
5 Mar. 2025
-
India can also be overwhelming, for locals and tourists alike, so treat our list of the 17 historic buildings of India as your one-stop guide when planning a trip.—
Shalbha Sarda,
Architectural Digest,
4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
As Jeffrey’s amateur investigation spirals deeper into danger, he’s forced to confront the unsettling coexistence of idyllic suburban life and brutal violence lurking beneath the surface.—
Travis Bean,
Forbes,
8 Mar. 2025
-
The activist, who boasts 1,100,000 followers on Instagram, wasted no time firing back at the unsettling allegations.—
Amber Corrine,
VIBE.com,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The Fairfield County corridor is infamously awful, according to Potamkin Hyundai, with the Stamford stretch recently ranking as the number one busiest highway segment in the entire country.—
Staff report,
Hartford Courant,
10 Mar. 2025
-
But Ovechkin has been scoring 50 goals (a season) for an awful long time now.—
Homero De la Fuente,
CNN,
9 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
If you’ve been hurt before—through rejection, betrayal or emotional invalidation—exposing your emotions again can seem unbearable.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes,
1 Mar. 2025
-
Merit’s day-to-day and intertwining troubles provide a comforting indie-film blanket for the audience, reminiscent of any coming-of-age story where the hero endures minor mishaps while escaping the unbearable.—
Proma Khosla,
IndieWire,
27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
The fact that adult writers are spending their time dissecting my face, my body, my choices is disturbing.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
3 Mar. 2025
-
These findings should be deeply disturbing to Western policymakers, for at least two reasons.—
Gordon G. Chang,
Newsweek,
3 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Traumatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/traumatic. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share