traumatic

The word “traumatic” means deeply distressing or disturbing; caused by or relating to trauma. In plain terms, deeply upsetting, or relating to a physical wound.

“Traumatic” is pronounced traw-MA-tihk (/tɹɔˈmætɪk/ in IPA).

Here is “traumatic” used in a sentence: “The divorce was a traumatic experience for the whole family.”

The opposite of “traumatic” — its antonyms — are non-traumatic, nontraumatic and untraumatic.

“Traumatic” is an adjective.

The word “traumatic” comes from Ancient Greek. From Ancient Greek traumatikos, from trauma, "wound.".

“Traumatic” is an uncommon word in modern English, usually learned at around the C1 level.

“Traumatic” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: deeply distressing or disturbing; caused by or relating to trauma.

Traumatic describes an event or experience itself as deeply distressing, while traumatizing describes the act of causing that distress to someone. In practice they overlap heavily, but traumatic is more common as a general descriptor and traumatizing emphasizes the effect on a specific person.

Yes. Traumatic has a medical sense relating to physical wounds, as in a traumatic brain injury, alongside its more common everyday sense of something deeply distressing or disturbing. Which meaning applies usually depends on context, such as a clinical setting versus everyday conversation about a hard experience.

Yes, this is standard usage, since traumatic events can vary in intensity and 'very traumatic' simply signals a particularly severe case. Some style guides note that because traumatic already implies deep distress, careful writers reserve intensifiers like 'very' for genuinely extreme situations rather than minor upsets.