keening

[kee-ning]

noun

1. the act of a person who keens. keen.

2. a wailing lament for the dead; keen.

Word History and Origins

Origin of keening¹

First recorded in 1875–80; keen ² + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

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.

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The tone of his voice is high, a keening sound.

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When she sang on Coleman’s 1972 LP “Science Fiction” — keening improvisation cutting through a ferocious band — the sax legend gave her a warning about America.

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After a few moments of keening in the dark, Howze reaches his denouement in song: “I’m trying to be,” he sings.

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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.

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Related Words

• bawl 
• blubber 
• howl 
• lament 
• sob 
• wail