These words are used in referring to acts or situations that cause someone to feel emotionally upset or mentally injured. Hurt is the most general and informal of these words; it suggests a small mental injury: accusations designed to hurt and frighten her. Pain , in this context, now tends to sound archaic: pained by his constant references to her past. Because the word may sound unnatural or forced, it can sometimes give an unsympathetic tone: easily pained by the smallest slight. Distress has an extremely formal sound in most of its uses as a verb and can give a prissy or euphemistic tone: the manager who claimed to be greatly distressed by his secretary’s long lunch hours. It may seem more natural in describing a subjective state of mind: distressed by vague longings and poorly defined fears. Aggrieve has become so fusty-sounding that its only possible use is in the passive voice, for distraught states of mind: a parent deeply aggrieved by his children’s disobedience. Afflict suggests a condition that is extremely uncomfortable or upsetting, and further hints that the condition is one of long duration: afflicted by tensions that drove him to suicide.