Poignant
['pɒɪnjənt] or ['pɔɪnjənt]
Definition
(adj.) keenly distressing to the mind or feelings; 'poignant anxiety' .
Checker: Rosalind--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent.
(a.) Fig.: Pointed; keen; satirical.
Edited by Janet
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Sharp, severe, piercing, penetrating, intense.[2]. Pungent, biting, acrid.[3]. Keen, pointed, caustic, irritating.
Checked by Amy
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Stinging, sharp, keen, penetrating, severe, biting, intense, piercing,[SeeKEEN]
Checker: Sinclair
Definition
adj. stinging pricking: sharp: penetrating: acutely painful: satirical: pungent.—n. Poign′ancy state of being poignant.—adv. Poign′antly.
Editor: Louise
Examples
- But, this impulse yielded to, I speedily put her out of the classe, for, upon that poignant strain, she wept more bitterly than ever. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Paul stooped down and proceeded--as novel-writers say, and, as was literally true in his case--to hiss into my ear some poignant words. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- It merely took hold of her, the most poignant and ultimate hatred, pure and clear and beyond thought. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The north and east owned a terrific influence, making all pain more poignant, all sorrow sadder. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- How can I see so noble a creature destroyed by misery without feeling the most poignant grief? Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- She greeted him with a mocking, enigmatic smile in which was a poignant gaiety. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Nothing bitter--nothing poignant? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- This immediately roused a poignant pity and allegiance in Gerald's heart, always shadowed by contempt and by unadmitted enmity. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Pray, Emma, said he, may I ask in what lay the great amusement, the poignant sting of the last word given to you and Miss Fairfax? Jane Austen. Emma.
- Her father looked at her, and his heart ran hot with tenderness, an anguish of poignant love. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- When he was gone Ursula felt such a poignant hatred of him, that all her brain seemed turned into a sharp crystal of fine hatred. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- With the stoicism of the green Martian he showed no sign of suffering, yet I knew that his grief was as poignant as my own. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- I will try to comfort you; but this, I fear, is an evil too deep and poignant to admit of consolation, for there is no hope. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- It made Gudrun faint with poignant dizziness, which seemed to penetrate to her heart. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Editor: Louise