piqued
Americanadjective
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(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.
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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.
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(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
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of piqued
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.
Investor interest was piqued by the Artemis moon mission earlier this year that SpaceX did not participate in, she said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
Unsurprisingly, such works have piqued the attention of Chinese authorities and made Badiucao – who does not give his real name publicly – a target.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
This overlooked chapter piqued the interest of Ms. Gerson, an immigration reporter and professor of journalism at California State University, Northridge.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
But the list of questions piqued his interest.
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026
The captain was piqued, but managed to carry on with a pretense of optimism.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
