keening

[kee-ning] Example Sentences Origin

keen·ing

[kee-ning]
noun
1.
the act of a person who keens.
2.
a wailing lament for the dead; keen.

Origin:
1875–80; keen2 + -ing1

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Keening is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Example Sentences
  • Kim's keening lines once again denoted youthful exuberance in a plush account.
  • It takes the form sometimes of an arena-enveloping shout, sometimes of a keening wail and sometimes of a piercing falsetto.
  • There you will find a vast underworld of lost souls keening their misery onto your screen.
EXPAND
Dictionary.com Unabridged

keen

2[keen]
noun
1.
a wailing lament for the dead.
verb (used without object)
2.
to wail in lamentation for the dead.
verb (used with object)
3.
to bewail or lament by or with keening.

Origin:
1805–15; < Irish caoine (noun), caoin- (v., stem of caoinim) lament

keen·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To keening
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

keen
"lament," 1811, from Ir. caoinim "I weep, wail, lament," from O.Ir. coinim.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT