plangent

[ plan-juhnt ]
See synonyms for: plangentplangency on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. resounding loudly, especially with a plaintive sound, as a bell.

Origin of plangent

1
1815–25; <Latin plangent- (stem of plangēns), present participle of plangere to beat, lament. See plain2, -ent

Other words from plangent

  • plan·gen·cy, noun
  • plan·gent·ly, adverb

Words Nearby plangent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use plangent in a sentence

  • It seemed as large as the shell of a cathedral, and for organ there was the plangent, echoing sound of sea waves.

    The Air Pirate | Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull
  • The plangent roar of the city was painful to his ears, which had always been attuned to the deep silences of forest and lake.

    Lad: A Dog | Albert Payson Terhune
  • But I am not plangent—one must take the thick with the thin—and I have such possibilities of another and better sort before me.

  • The plangent power and deep earnestness of the words were even more applicable now than then.

    When It Was Dark | Guy Thorne
  • From his stivy cellar he issues forth into the plashing, plangent currents of city life.

    The Book of Khalid | Ameen Rihani

British Dictionary definitions for plangent

plangent

/ (ˈplændʒənt) /


adjective
  1. having a loud deep sound

  2. resonant and mournful in sound

Origin of plangent

1
C19: from Latin plangere to beat (esp the breast, in grief); see plain ²

Derived forms of plangent

  • plangency, noun
  • plangently, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012