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PIERCING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Painful as if caused by a sharp instrument
Example:
lancinating pain
Synonyms:
cutting; keen; knifelike; lancinate; lancinating; piercing; stabbing
Classified under:
Similar:
sharp (keenly and painfully felt; as if caused by a sharp edge or point)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
Example:
frequent penetrative observations
Synonyms:
acute; discriminating; incisive; keen; knifelike; penetrating; penetrative; piercing; sharp
Classified under:
Similar:
perceptive (having the ability to perceive or understand; keen in discernment)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb pierce
Context examples:
"You are too inquisitive, St. John," murmured Mary in a low voice; but he leaned over the table and required an answer by a second firm and piercing look.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Two were dark, and had high aquiline noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes that seemed to be almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
It was a gaunt, aquiline face which was turned towards us, with piercing dark eyes, which lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Homer was the taller and comelier person of the two, walked very erect for one of his age, and his eyes were the most quick and piercing I ever beheld.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
The luckless limner, thus suddenly brought out from his dreams, sat up with a piercing yell, while Hordle John bounded back into the circle almost as rapidly as he had left it.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His hard, high-boned face, large piercing eyes, and immense physique made him a fitting leader for that rough and tumultuous body who had named him as their commander-in-chief.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He looked it, and the piercing glitter that arose at times in his eyes was the same piercing glitter I had observed in the eyes of caged leopards and other preying creatures of the wild.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
On every point of general literature he displays unbounded knowledge and a quick and piercing apprehension.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Body piercing involves making a hole in the skin so that you can insert jewelry.
(Piercing and Tattoos, NIH)
She withdrew herself a step behind the chair, to keep her own face out of Mrs. Steerforth's observation; and scrutinized me with a piercing gaze that never faltered, never shrunk.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
