SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
poignant
adjective
Deeply affecting, often with sadness or tenderness.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Deeply moving
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topPoignant often combines emotional force with sadness or tenderness. Heart-rending is stronger, and bittersweet specifically blends pleasure with sadness.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See poignant in use
The final letter made the reunion especially poignant.
A student theater group created a short play about a fictional railway waiting room on its final evening of use. The prologue introduced a traveler reading an old note left inside a borrowed book, a poignant moment that connected an ordinary object with an absent friend.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license