KEEN
Dictionary entry overview: What does keen mean?
• KEEN (noun)
The noun KEEN has 1 sense:
1. a funeral lament sung with loud wailing
Familiarity information: KEEN used as a noun is very rare.
• KEEN (adjective)
The adjective KEEN has 5 senses:
1. having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
2. intense or sharp
3. very good
4. as physically painful as if caused by a sharp instrument
5. having a sharp cutting edge or point
Familiarity information: KEEN used as an adjective is common.
• KEEN (verb)
The verb KEEN has 1 sense:
1. express grief verbally
Familiarity information: KEEN used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
• KEEN (noun)
Meaning:
A funeral lament sung with loud wailing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("keen" is a kind of...):
coronach; dirge; lament; requiem; threnody (a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person)
Domain region:
Emerald Isle; Hibernia; Ireland (an island comprising the republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland)
• KEEN (adjective)
Meaning:
Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
Synonyms:
piercing; penetrative; penetrating; keen; incisive; knifelike; discriminating; acute; sharp
Context examples:
an acute observer of politics and politicians / incisive comments / icy knifelike reasoning / as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang / penetrating insight / frequent penetrative observations
Similar:
perceptive (having the ability to perceive or understand; keen in discernment)
Meaning:
Intense or sharp
Synonyms:
exquisite; keen
Context examples:
suffered exquisite pain / felt exquisite pleasure
Similar:
intense (in an extreme degree)
Meaning:
Very good
Synonyms:
smashing; slap-up; nifty; not bad; groovy; swell; dandy; cracking; corking; bully; bang-up; peachy; keen; great; neat
Context examples:
he did a bully job / a neat sports car / had a great time at the party / you look simply smashing
Similar:
good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Meaning:
As physically painful as if caused by a sharp instrument
Synonyms:
lancinating; lancinate; stabbing; knifelike; cutting; piercing; keen
Context examples:
a cutting wind / keen winds / knifelike cold / piercing knifelike pains / piercing cold / piercing criticism / a stabbing pain / lancinating pain
Similar:
sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)
Meaning:
Having a sharp cutting edge or point
Context example:
a keen blade
Similar:
sharp (having or made by a thin edge or sharp point; suitable for cutting or piercing)
• KEEN (verb)
Meaning:
Express grief verbally
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
keen; lament
Context example:
we lamented the death of the child
Hypernyms (to "keen" is one way to...):
express emotion; express feelings (give verbal or other expression to one's feelings)
"Keen" entails doing...:
grieve; sorrow (feel grief; eat one's heart out)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
