poignant
evoking a keen sense of sadness or emotional impact
Word origin: From French poindre, to prick or sting, from Latin pungere.
Poignant in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing poignant in a sentence.
The documentary ended with a poignant reunion of long-separated families.
The photograph of the empty classroom became a poignant reminder of the lives the war had interrupted.
Using “poignant” well
Poignant describes something that produces a sharp, often bittersweet ache of emotion, not mere sadness.
More GRE words starting with P
to calm or soothe someone who is angry or agitated
a song or expression of joyful praise or triumph
done with careful and thorough effort
agreeable to the taste or acceptable to the mind
resembling a palace in size or grandeur
rebirth, regeneration, or renewal into a new existence
to ease the severity of something without curing it
pale or lacking vitality and color
Questions about “poignant”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.