POIGNANCY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does poignancy mean? 

• POIGNANCY (noun)
  The noun POIGNANCY has 2 senses:

1. a state of deeply felt distress or sorrow

2. a quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow)

  Familiarity information: POIGNANCY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POIGNANCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of deeply felt distress or sorrow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

poignance; poignancy

Context example:

a moment of extraordinary poignancy

Hypernyms ("poignancy" is a kind of...):

sadness; sorrow; sorrowfulness (the state of being sad)

Derivation:

poignant (keenly distressing to the mind or feelings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A quality that arouses emotions (especially pity or sorrow)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

pathos; poignancy

Context example:

the film captured all the pathos of their situation

Hypernyms ("poignancy" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Derivation:

poignant (arousing affect)

 Context examples 

You will picture to yourself, my dear Mr. Copperfield, what the poignancy of my feelings must be, when I inform you that Mr. Micawber is entirely changed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)