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.

“My boy, my little boy, come home to us, my little boy,” she keened over the body.

From New York Times • Jan. 29, 2022

But whether the wind produced a lion’s roar, or merely keened or whistled or hummed, at its peak it was clocked by the National Weather Service at Reagan National Airport at 29 mph.

From Washington Post • Feb. 29, 2020

While the violin lines of “Where Are U Now” keened behind him, his face was slick with sweat.

From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2015

As the truck made its way across the square, women and children spilled out of their houses, sat down in the dirt, and keened.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 12, 2015

The children screamed hysterically at the first sight of the needle and their mothers, waiting in the anteroom, threw their shawls over their heads and keened loudly as if wailing for the dead.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith