PIERCING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does piercing mean? 

• PIERCING (adjective)
  The adjective PIERCING has 2 senses:

1. having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions

2. painful as if caused by a sharp instrument

  Familiarity information: PIERCING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PIERCING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions

Synonyms:

acute; discriminating; incisive; keen; knifelike; penetrating; penetrative; piercing; sharp

Context example:

frequent penetrative observations

Similar:

perceptive (having the ability to perceive or understand; keen in discernment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Painful as if caused by a sharp instrument

Synonyms:

cutting; keen; knifelike; lancinate; lancinating; piercing; stabbing

Context example:

lancinating pain

Similar:

sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)

 Context examples 

Also called: Tattoos, Body art, Body piercing

(Piercing and Tattoos, NIH)

Sometimes, seized with sudden agony, he could not continue his tale; at others, his voice broken, yet piercing, uttered with difficulty the words so replete with anguish.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A second cry arose, piercing the silence with needle-like shrillness.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain shoots through the wrist and up your arm.

(Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

The practice of piercing specific points on the body with very thin sterile needles in order to relieve pain or induce regional anesthesia.

(Acupuncture Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)

Forceful administration into a muscle of liquid medication, nutrient, or other fluid through a hollow needle piercing the muscle and any tissue covering it.

(Intramuscular Route of Administration, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A coded value specifying the type of container cap. NOTE(S): In some cases, it is important for this to be consistent with decapping, piercing or other automated manipulation.

(Package Cap Type Code, NCI Thesaurus/BRIDG)

The Sausage’s piercing trajectory meant that the Milky Way’s disk was probably puffed up or even fractured following the impact, and the Milky Way had to re-grow a new disk.

(The Gaia Sausage: the major collision that changed the Milky Way, University of Cambridge)

You coward!’ Those were scraps of her conversation, ending in a sudden dreadful cry in the man’s voice, with a crash, and a piercing scream from the woman.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I bore up against the separation from Mr. Peggotty and Mrs. Gummidge, but my agony of mind at leaving little Em'ly was piercing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)