pungent

CEFRB2

/ˈpʌnd͡ʒənt/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Having a strong, sharp smell or taste.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Stinging; acerbic.

Examples

  • A pungent, salty odor wafted from the kitchen.

  • Pungent fumes arose from the chemical mixture.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Having a strong odor that stings the nose; said especially of acidic or spicy substances.

  2. Having a strong taste that stings the tongue; said especially of hot (spicy) food, which has a strong and sharp or bitter taste.

  3. Having a sharp and stiff point.

More examples

In context

  • I accidentally dropped the bottle of ammonia and after few seconds, a very pungent stench could be detected.

  • The critic gave a pungent review.

  • I can almost smell the fir scent... resinous, pungent.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

A blank odor coming from the garbage bin made everyone hold their noses.

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

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Borrowed from Latin pungens (stem pungent-), present participle of pungo (“to sting”). Doublet of poignant.