Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of poignancy
First recorded in 1680–90; poign(ant) + -ancy
Explanation
The noun poignancy refers to something that is deeply touching, especially something that brings forth strong emotions like sympathy, sadness, or sorrow. The poignancy of the movie may bring you to tears. Bring tissues. Lots of tissues. The noun poignancy is from the Old French word poindre, which means "to prick or sting." Related words include the adjective poignant. Similar words include pathos and bathos, although both of these words often imply a sort artificiality that poignancy does not. Pathos can imply a trick by the writer or speaker to produce sympathy or sadness and bathos can imply artificial sentimentality, so poignancy is often the preferred word when genuine emotion is involved.
Vocabulary lists containing poignancy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Poignancy is one of the most vital components in Jackson’s “Get Back.”
From Washington Post • Nov. 25, 2021
Poignancy mixes well with humor, the songs are fresh and sweet, the set is blissful and the performances honest.
From Washington Times • Apr. 26, 2016
A version of this review appears in print on January 16, 2014, on page C8 of the with the headline: Virtuoso Poignancy Unfettered By Concepts.
From New York Times • Jan. 15, 2014
The same may be said of the Poignancy of Satyr; and the natural Images of ordinary Life in Comedy.
From The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718) by Trapp, Joseph
They were not so cruel as, wholly, to serve for quelling; and yet they had a Poignancy that might tend to provoke.
From An Essay on the Antient and Modern State of Ireland by Brooke, Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
