Afterpain
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Pain that occurs or remains after an event, such as surgery (especially dental surgery), eating spicy food, or simply an initial, sharper pain.
"[Causes of] afterpain are rapid injection of the solution or using it too hot, and where the solution is taken from a stock bottle and not boiled; afterpain may also result from sepsis. The enigma of afterpain will undoubedly always by with us[…]"
- 2 Pain of uterine contractions experienced after childbirth (especially after passage of the placenta). in-plural, often
Example
More examples"[Causes of] afterpain are rapid injection of the solution or using it too hot, and where the solution is taken from a stock bottle and not boiled; afterpain may also result from sepsis. The enigma of afterpain will undoubedly always by with us[…]"
Etymology
From after- + pain.
More for "afterpain"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.