Etymology
Origin of keening
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.
Gilgamesh’s lament is not the stylized keening of epic tradition—not Achilles’ highfalutin howls after Hector strikes down Patroclus—but something rawer, humbler, more recognizably human.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
Only a handful of authentic keening songs were recorded from traditional singers, which Róis referenced on the record.
From BBC • Dec. 31, 2025
Shift to Sport mode and the engine will hold at a high, keening rpm, trying to charge the battery faster than the driver can drain it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 25, 2025
Mr. Sonnier’s virtuoso accordion work and his vocals, by turns keening and supple, infused the country airwaves in the late 1980s with Cajun, rock, swamp-pop and jazz sensibilities.
From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2024
Gunwoo let out a keening sound of such anguish it stabbed at Doha’s heart.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
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.
