piqued

[peekt]

adjective

1. (of interest, curiosity, etc.) excited or aroused.

   By the end of the talk the audience had tons of questions, and left with a piqued interest in the world of lion research.

2. irritated and resentful, especially because of an injury to one’s pride.

   The Act triggered President Truman's piqued reaction: he found the bill "un-American" and vetoed it, but to no avail.

3. (of pride, vanity, etc.) wounded.

   Unimaginable horrors often result from nothing more than a move to second place, a public embarrassment, or a piqued ego.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of pique.

Other Word Forms

• unpiqued adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of piqued¹

pique ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

For over a decade, Superchief has established itself as a place where punk rockers, graffiti writers, street photographers, homegrown fine artists and anyone with a piqued interest in counterculture gather to celebrate art.

From Los Angeles Times

Sir Ben says that is what first piqued his interest, with the script being a final clincher.

From BBC

"At the end of it all, it started to get a little scary, and then it piqued when Sarah Palin appeared on the show."

From BBC

Wells, whose widely serialized attack-of-the-Martians story “War of the Worlds” piqued the Western imagination.

From Los Angeles Times

Mr Tullier said the discovery of the bunker had piqued the interest of other people and he felt it was important to keep the German elements present.

From BBC

Related Words

• annoyed 
• bitter 
• enraged www.thesaurus.com
• exasperated 
• furious 
• heated 
• impassioned 
• indignant 
• irate 
• irritable 
• irritated 
• mad 
• offended 
• outraged www.thesaurus.com
• resentful 
• sullen 
• uptight