keening

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Here all is keening, a ringing echo neither ended nor begun.

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Definitions (36)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (11)

  1. adjective Having a fine, sharp cutting edge or point.
  2. adjective Having or marked by intellectual quickness and acuity. See Synonyms at sharp.
  3. adjective Acutely sensitive: a keen ear.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (14)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • It started its weird keening, the same blood-curdling cry it had voiced earlier. —  Fantasy and Science Fiction - [Vol 111] - Issue 04-05 - October-November 2006
  • The wind began to rise outside with a low, keening, moaning sound which meant even worse weather to come. —  Death of a Macho Man
  • As I caught the beat of pinions and the near-ultrasonic keening--part sonar, part language -there came, hazy and unbidden, the image of Sarah on a white beach by the blue ocean, her hair falling in salt tangles as she stooped along the shore to collect fishbones and shells. —  F ;SF; - vol 091 issue 04-05 - October-November 1996
  • The mad brain encased in its indestructible titanium shell, had all circuits open, keening, oblivious to everything. —  The Ship Who Sang
  • Yalnis's tears flowed again and she sobbed, keening, grieving, wishing to take back the whole last time of waking. —  Gardner Dozois - The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection (2006)
 

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