Sentence examples for painfully strained from inspiring English sources
James pushes his voice past the streaked to the painfully strained.
Sting sings lower in his range here than on his pop recordings, and when he chances his upper voice, it is painfully strained.
Sports fans will know from the off that there's a downbeat resolution in store for this underdog story, so co-writer-director James Erskine has to strain painfully to accentuate the positive with glimpses of trans-sectarian unity and gassy humour centred on blokes' love of beer.
Squatting, straining, bending over, kneeling painfully upright: every position involves obvious discomfort for the models.
As the characters strain to become themselves – revealing their needs, aches and humiliations – what emerges is a show that seems perfectly and painfully contemporary.
Did ever a sport strain so painfully to keep up appearances as professional golf, whose desire to be perceived as wholesome, seemly and united gives the rest of us such a laugh?
Managers are also painfully aware of the signs of strain in the NHS, as witnessed by reports of shockingly awful care of older people, cancelled operations and sub-optimal maternity and other services.
But what about that right arm that has dangled painfully by Djokovic's side in recent months, not to mention strains on the rest of his body that have cut him down this season: is this a tournament too far?
Progress is painfully slow.
