poignant

CEFRC2

/ˈpɔɪ.njənt/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Causing strong feelings of sadness or emotion.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving.

Examples

  • I thought Tom's poem was really poignant.

  • The poignant ending of the movie made all of us cry.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • [ˈpoɪɲ.ənt]
  • [ˈpɔɪɲ.ənt]

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Neat; eloquent; applicable; relevant.

  2. Sharp-pointed; keen.

  3. Piquant, pungent.

More examples

In context

  • The incident was so poignant.

  • A poignant reply will garner more credence than hours of blown smoke.

  • Flipping through his high school yearbook evoked many a poignant memory of yesteryear.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The movie had a blank ending that made everyone cry and think.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English poynaunt, poynant, borrowed from Anglo-Norman puignant, poynaunt etc., present participle of poindre (“to prick”), from Latin pungō (“prick”). Doublet of pungent.