The phrase "painful ordeal" means a very difficult and distressing experience that causes a lot of pain or suffering.
Sentences with «painful ordeal»
Sounds like a very painful ordeal you and your family are enduring. (goodtherapy.org)
I believe that a primary reason getting older and wiser has become such a physically painful ordeal for so many among us in the West is because we are so out of relationship with our bodies. (projectwellnessnow.com)
In looping cycles, pernicious thoughts dissecting each one of his many inadequacies ran through his brain; once pleasurable social activities became painful ordeals, in large part because everyone else seemed to be doing so well. (fortune.com)