Meaning

(archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing, severe..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing, severe.
2. Stimulating to the senses; engaging; charming.
3. Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; tangy.
4. Producing a burning sensation due to the presence of chilies or similar spices; spicy, hot.

Example Sentences

Their husbands […] leave home to seek for more agreeable, may I be allowed to use a significant French word, piquant society […]

He looked after her as she retreated, with a fondness which was rendered more piquant, as it were, by the mixture of a certain scorn which accompanied it.

Pork Chops with Apple and Port These chops are baked in a piquant sauce containing fruit, honey, cinnamon, lemon and port, all of which reduces to a spicy syrup.

Elsewhere in South America, excepting Bahia in Brazil, one does not encounter piquant cuisine, although one may stumble on a piquant dish now and then […]

French charcuterie relies on cloves in the quatre épices, or four-spice powder, for seasoning fine sausages and piquant marinades.

Word Forms

• more piquant
• most piquant
• piquante

Synonyms for piquant

Related Words

When Should You Use Piquant?

Use piquant when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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