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Keen

adjective

(compar. keener; superl. keenest)

1.

Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions. Synonyms: acute, discriminating, incisive, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp. "Incisive comments" , "Icy knifelike reasoning" , "As sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang" , "Penetrating insight" , "Frequent penetrative observations"

2.

Intense or sharp. Synonym: exquisite. "Felt exquisite pleasure"

3.

Very good. Synonyms: bang-up, bully, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, neat, nifty, not bad, peachy, slap-up, smashing, swell. "A neat sports car" , "Had a great time at the party" , "You look simply smashing"

4.

Painful as if caused by a sharp instrument. Synonyms: cutting, knifelike, lancinate, lancinating, piercing, stabbing. "Keen winds" , "Knifelike cold" , "Piercing knifelike pains" , "Piercing cold" , "Piercing criticism" , "A stabbing pain" , "Lancinating pain"

5.

Having a sharp cutting edge or point.

noun

1.

A funeral lament sung with loud wailing.

verb

1.

Express grief verbally. Synonym: lament.

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Keen" Quotes from Famous Books

... much bitter with the sweet and many clouds with the sunshine; social pleasures were necessarily given up and numerous sacrifices made, to say nothing of the keen disappointment brought home to each as she recognized, despite her greatest efforts, that the actual work was far behind what her aspirations had been at the outset. But through all we have been cheered ...

— Silver Links • Various

... hard-featured man with a withered face. He was an early riser, and had once been very fond of hunting. But now for a great portion of the year he applied himself wholly to reading the old books of knighthood, and this with such keen delight that he forgot all about the pleasures of the chase, and neglected all household matters. His mania and folly grew to such a pitch that he sold many acres of his lands to buy books of the exploits and adventures of the knights ...

— The Junior Classics, V4 • Willam Patten (Editor)

... the bush. The road was well beaten and the horses were keen to go, so that before many minutes were over they were half through the bush. Ranald's spirits rose and he began to take some interest in his companion's observations upon the beauty of the lights and shadows falling ...

— The Ontario Readers - Third Book • Ontario Ministry of Education

... Scorbutic ulcers broke out on Flinders' feet, so that he was no longer able to station himself at his customary observation-point, the mast-head. Nevertheless, though driven by sheer necessity, it was not without keen regret that he determined to sail away. "The accomplishment of the survey was, in fact," he said, "an object so near to my heart, that could I have foreseen the train of ills that were to follow the decay of the Investigator and prevent the survey being resumed, and had my existence depended upon ...

— The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders • Ernest Scott

... in my tent on account of a strange noise. For an instant I saw the black face and gleaming eyes of an Ajassua, then they disappeared and I discovered that the canvas of my tent had been slit from top to bottom with a keen dagger." ...

— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume I (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere

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