poignant

[ poin-yuhnt, poi-nuhnt ]

adjective

1. keenly distressing to the feelings:

   poignant regret.

   Synonyms: heartfelt, sincere, intense

   Antonyms: mild

2. keen or strong in mental appeal:

   a subject of poignant interest.

   Antonyms: mild

3. affecting or moving the emotions:

   a poignant scene.

4. pungent to the smell:

   poignant cooking odors.

   Synonyms: sharp, piquant

poignant

/ ˈpɔɪnjənt; -nənt /

adjective

1. sharply distressing or painful to the feelings
2. to the point; cutting or piercing

   poignant wit

3. keen or pertinent in mental appeal

   a poignant subject

4. pungent in smell

Derived Forms

• ˈpoignancy, noun
• ˈpoignantly, adverb

Other Words From

• poignant·ly adverb
• un·poignant adjective
• un·poignant·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of poignant¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English poynaunt, from Middle French poignant, literally, “stinging,” present participle of poindre “to appear, emerge,” earlier “to prick, sting,” from Latin pungere; pungent

Word History and Origins

Origin of poignant¹

C14: from Old French, from Latin pungens pricking, from pungere to sting, pierce, grieve

Example Sentences

Barnett’s painstaking attention to detail renders particularly poignant the irony of the impact that the oil trade has had on marine life.

From Washington Post

This track helped me through lockdown as it is one of my all-time favorites and the song’s message is particularly poignant and relevant right now – stop discriminating against each other and help each other out.

From Digiday

Space, once a man’s place, is at last and forever changing—and Wally Funk is perhaps the most poignant face of that transformation.

From Time

It works, and is so poignant and awkward that it’s no surprise that reviews often mentioned Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback as a cringe-comedy reference point.

From The Daily Beast

You included a poignant anecdote about your son interrupting your reading on a rainy day.

From Washington Post

It was poignant, and we so wanted to leave and be out there.

From The Daily Beast

All of which makes David Freeman's portrait of Hitchcock in his final days all the more poignant.

From The Daily Beast

But Billy Childs absolutely delivers the goods in this poignant collection of Laura Nyro songs.

From The Daily Beast

And as a writer and actor on The Mack, he made that film feel both more desperate and more poignant.

From The Daily Beast

“Three is a Magic Number” becomes stunningly poignant to any couple that welcomes its first child.

From The Daily Beast

In that poignant moment of self-revelation Tom's cumbersome machinery of intuition did not fail him.

From Project Gutenberg

The most poignant test, however, came when port was reached and the scented land-wind met his nostrils with the—Spring.

From Project Gutenberg

Octavie felt as if she had passed into a stage of existence which was like a dream, more poignant and real than life.

From Project Gutenberg

This immediate, poignant grief stung them bitterly and prevented for the moment any thought of what the future might hold.

From Project Gutenberg

The edge of her wit had become poignant, her speech rendered logical and allusive.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bitter
• disturbing
• emotional
• heartbreaking
• heartrending
• moving
• passionate
• pathetic
• sad
• sentimental
• touching