poignant

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (3)  · 
She has words indeed that reach the inmost heart--poignant, overpowering in tenderness and pathos; but she has, also, words that cause the brows to draw together, the mind to pause uneasily, then to cry "Not so!"

View all »
Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. adjective Profoundly moving; touching: a poignant memory. See Synonyms at moving.
  2. adjective Physically painful: "Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward” (Ambrose Bierce).
  3. adjective Keenly distressing to the mind or feelings: poignant anxiety.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • It's funny, poignant, and deliciously honest with an irresistible contemporary rock / pop score by —  BroadwayWorld.com Featured Content
  • She has words indeed that reach the inmost heart--poignant, overpowering in tenderness and pathos; but she has, also, words that cause the brows to draw together, the mind to pause uneasily, then to cry "Not so!" —  Browning's Heroines
  • Marshall: Christmas can make everything more poignant, our joys more full, our longings more sharp. —  National Review Online
  • I'm amazed that you remembered the name of that tune -- poignant and timely for you. —  The Lady Killers
  • Raising Victor Vargas, remains among the most pointed, poignant, and joyful films about teen love ever made. " —  GreenCine Daily
 

Tags

poignant hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 297 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

disturb ·  tragic ·  overwhelm ·  agonize ·  mournful ·  profound ·  inexpressible ·  compel ·  intimate ·  pleasurable ·  penetrate ·  unbearable
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English poinaunt, from Old French poignant, present participle of poindre, to prick, from Latin pungere; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English poynant, from Middle English poynant, from Old French (and F.) poignant (= Spanish Portuguese pungente = It.pungente, pugnente, from Latin pungen(t-)s, present participle of pungere, prick: see pungent, and cf. point.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ˈpɔɪnənt/
by American Heritage
by julie hestermann
by julie hestermann

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a month.

Recently looked up

in · beneath · ception · griddle · hat

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket