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Collocations for pain - noun

1. physical pain

ADJ.

acute, agonizing, awful, excruciating, extreme, great,
intense, severe, sharp, terrible,
unbearable | burning, searing, shooting, stabbing, throbbing
She had a burning pain in one eye.
dull, little, slight | chronic,
constant, nagging, persistent |
sudden | intermittent | physical
abdominal, back, chest, leg,
muscle, shoulder, stomach
She''s been off work with back pain. | He went to the doctor with chest pains.
growing, labour, period

QUANT.

spasm, stab

VERB + PAIN

be in, be racked with, experience, feel, get, go through, have, suffer (from)
He was obviously in a great deal of pain. | Can you feel any pain? | Marathon runners are used to going through pain. | He was taken to hospital suffering from severe abdominal pain.
cause, give sb, inflict
His back gives him great pain. | It''s wrong to inflict pain on any animal.
increase, make worse | alleviate, control, deaden, do something for, dull, ease, help, kill, relieve, stop
Your doctor should be able to do something for the pain.
bear, endure, put up with, stand, take | cry out in, cry with, groan with, scream with | be contorted with, contort in
His face was contorted with pain as he crossed the finish line.

PAIN + VERB

begin, come
The pains began shortly after she started work as a gardener.
shoot through/up
A sharp pain shot up his leg.
grow stronger, increase, intensify | disappear, go, stop, wear off
Has the pain gone yet? | A few hours after he''d had his tooth out, the pain began to wear off.
come back, return

PAIN + NOUN

control, relief | threshold

PREP.

~ in
a pain in her side

PHRASES

aches and pains
Eucalyptus oil is good for easing muscular aches and pains.
a cry of pain, a threshold for/of pain
I have a very low threshold for pain.

2. unhappiness

ADJ.

great, intense, terrible | emotional

VERB + PAIN

cause (sb), give sb, inflict
Through her drug addiction she had inflicted a lot of pain on the family.
feel, go through | get over
It took him several years to get over the pain of losing his job.
ease | spare sb
We hoped to spare her the pain of having to meet her attacker.
express | conceal
He tried to conceal his pain from her.
bear, endure | be worth
The government has to persuade the people that the economic reforms are worth the pain.

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