- pungent
- pungent, piquant, poignant, racy, spicy, snappy are comparable when they mean characterized by sharpness, zest, and a piercing or gripping quality.Pungent applies especially to a sharp, piercing, stinging, biting, or penetrating quality, primarily of odors; it may suggest power to excite or stimulate keen interest or telling force and cogency{
her perfume, a sweet pungent odor . . . evocative and compelling— Styron
}{the pungent reek of a strong cigar— Doyle
}{his pungent pen played its part in rousing the nation to its later struggle with the Crown— J. R. Green
}{the mob needs concrete goals and the pungent thrill of hate in order to give vent to its destructive impulses— Cohen
}Piquant may indicate an interesting or appetizing tartness, sharpness, or pungency that stimulates or a zestful, arch, provocative, challenging, or exciting quality that is individual or peculiar{a piquant sauce
}{piquant with the tart-sweet taste of green apples and sugar— Spitzer
}{piquant touch of innocent malice in his narration— Coulton
}{those piquant incongruities, which are the chief material of wit— Montague
}Poignant (see also MOVING) may describe what is sharply or piercingly effective upon the senses or stirring to one's inmost con-sciousness or deepest emotions{the air of romantic poverty which Rosalie found so tragically poignant— Wylie
}{with poignant finality, as a lover might put away a rose from a lost romance— Turnbull
}{a vague but poignant sense of discouragement that the sacrifices of the war had not been justified by its results spread over the country— Handling
}Racy may suggest verve, dash, tang, or vitality manifested with lively free heartiness{writes a racy, sometimes almost lusty prose, entirely suited to describing a group of down-to-earth hard-living people— Sherberg
}{a rare and racy sense of humor— Maugham
}Sometimes the term may carry the additional hint of passing beyond the bounds of propriety or good taste{considered too racy for the ladies and was read aloud only at a stag meeting— Newsweek
}{if men yawn ... the singers will sweep into an especially racy and obscene offering— Julian Dana
}Spicy describes what is seasoned or made redolent of spice; in extended uses it may suggest the piquant, smart, spirited, sensational, or scandalous{flair for a spicy zestful vernacular in dialogue— Rees
}{spicy tales of the type which usually appear in paper- bound copies, in which bishops are forced to visit nudist camps in their underwear— Robertson Davies
}Snappy suggests briskness, animation, dash, wit, or risqué quality{spoken in a snappy, matter-of-fact way— Lindsay
}{the renditions, if not especially lovely, were at all times spirited, neat, and snappy— Virgil Thomson
}{taken one look at ... a campus publication, decided that the contents are too snappy, and expelled the editor— N. Y. Times
}Analogous words: *incisive, trenchant, biting, cutting: penetrating, piercing, probing (see ENTER): exciting, stimulating, provoking or provocative (see corresponding verbs at PROVOKE)Antonyms: bland
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
