Synonyms for poignant
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Sad — evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving
sad, pungent, painful, moving, perceptive, exquisite, intense, sharp, bitter, distressing, excruciating, caustic, violent, stinging, smart, penetrating, irritating, acute, acrid, severe, piercing, biting
Definitions
- adj. 1
Evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving.
Flipping through his high school yearbook evoked many a poignant memory of yesteryear.
- adj. 2
Neat; eloquent; applicable; relevant.
A poignant reply will garner more credence than hours of blown smoke.
Related words
- Word family
- poignance poignancy poignantly
Example sentences
- painful She is still in the painful process of growing up.
- exquisite This restaurant offers some really exquisite dishes.
- perceptive Too much alcohol paralyzes our perceptive powers.
- pungent Pungent fumes arose from the chemical mixture.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| poignant | rising | |
| painful | rising | |
| exquisite | rising | |
| perceptive | falling | |
| pungent | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- sad1
- 5 letters
- smart1, sharp1, acute2, acrid2
- 6 letters
- moving2, severe2, bitter2, biting2
- 7 letters
- violent3, intense2, painful2, caustic2, pungent2
- 8 letters
- touching2, piercing2, stinging2
- 9 letters
- emotional4, affecting3, exquisite3
- 10 letters
- irritating4, perceptive3
- 11 letters
- penetrating4, distressing3
- 12 letters
- excruciating5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (acute2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- poignant