pungent

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pun·gent

(pŭn′jənt)

adj.

1. Affecting the organs of taste or smell with a sharp acrid sensation.

a. Penetrating, biting, or caustic: pungent satire.

b. To the point; sharp: pungent talks during which the major issues were confronted.

3. Pointed: a pungent leaf.

[Latin pungēns, pungent-, present participle of pungere, to sting; see peuk- in Indo-European roots.]

pun′gen·cy n.

pun′gent·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pungent

(ˈpʌndʒənt)

adj

1. (Cookery) having an acrid smell or sharp bitter flavour

2. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) (of wit, satire, etc) biting; caustic

3. (Biology) biology ending in a sharp point: a pungent leaf.

[C16: from Latin pungens piercing, from pungere to prick]

ˈpungency n

ˈpungently adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pun•gent

(ˈpʌn dʒənt)

adj.

1. sharply affecting the organs of taste or smell, as if by a penetrating power; biting; acrid.

2. caustic or sharply expressive: pungent remarks.

3. incisive; mordant: pungent wit.

4. acutely distressing; poignant.

5. Bot. sharp-pointed: a pungent leaf.

[1590–1600; < Latin pungent- (s. of pungēns), present participle of pungere to prick; see -ent]

pun′gen•cy, n.

pun′gent•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	pungent - strong and sharp;"the pungent taste of radishes"; "the acrid smell of burning rubber" acrid tasty - pleasing to the sense of taste; "a tasty morsel"
	2.	pungent - capable of wounding; "a barbed compliment"; "a biting aphorism"; "pungent satire" barbed, biting, mordacious, nipping sarcastic - expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds

pungent

adjective

1. strong, hot, spicy, seasoned, sharp, acid, bitter, stinging, sour, tart, aromatic, tangy, acrid, peppery, piquant, industrial-strength (chiefly humorous), highly flavoured, acerb The more herbs you use, the more pungent the sauce will be.
strong weak, moderate, dull, mild, bland, tasteless, unsavoury, unstimulating

2. cutting, pointed, biting, acute, telling, sharp, keen, stinging, piercing, penetrating, poignant, stringent, scathing, acrimonious, barbed, incisive, sarcastic, caustic, vitriolic, trenchant, mordant, mordacious He enjoyed the play's shrewd and pungent social analysis.
cutting dull, inane

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

pungent

adjective

1. Affecting the organs of taste or smell with a strong and often harsh sensation:

piquant, sharp, spicy, zesty.

Archaic: poignant.

2. So sharp as to cause mental pain:

acerbic, acid, acidic, acrid, astringent, biting, caustic, corrosive, cutting, mordacious, mordant, scathing, sharp, slashing, stinging, trenchant, truculent, vitriolic.

Translations

حِرّيف، لاذِع

čpavýostrýřízný

skarp

scharf stechend

piquant

sterkur, skarpur

pungente

asskodīgspikants

scherpstekend

keskinkeskin kokulu

刺激性的

pungent

[ˈpʌndʒənt] ADJ [smell, flavour] → acre; [remark, style] → mordaz

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

pungent

[ˈpʌndʒənt] adj

[smell, flavour] → piquant(e)

(fig) [language, criticism] → caustique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

pungent

adj (lit, fig) → scharf; smell also → stechend, durchdringend; to have a pungent style of writing → eine spitze or scharfe Feder führen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

pungent

[ˈpʌndʒənt] adj (smell, taste) → pungente, aspro/a; (smoke) → acre; (sauce) → piccante; (remark, satire) → caustico/a, mordace

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

pungent

(ˈpandʒənt) adjective

(of a taste or smell) sharp and strong.

ˈpungently adverb

pungent

a. pungentivo-a, acre; penetrante.

References in classic literature ?

The coming of La Petite, bringing with her as she did the pungent atmosphere of an outside and dimly known world, was a shock to these two, living their dream-life.

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He was withered, and blind, and senile, gibbering and mowing like some huge ape as ever he turned and twisted, and twisted back again, the suspended head in the pungent smoke, and handful by handful added rotten punk of wood to the smudge fire.

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The heated shells of these green unseasoned tenements gave out a pungent odor of scorching wood and resin.

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This is the correct Andalusian dawn now - crisp, fresh, dewy, fragrant, pungent - "

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There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent odor, and I could only assume that I had been overcome by some poisonous gas, but why I should retain my mental faculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.

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It was dirty and untidy, and it was filled with a pungent odour made up of many different stinks.

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It was a little different, more pungent, and one felt that this was where it originated.

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And so the Ship of Fools sailed on, all aft fooling and befouling, from the guileless-eyed, gentle-souled Finnish mate, who, with the scent of treasure pungent in his nostrils, with a duplicate key stole the ship's daily position from Captain Doane's locked desk, to Ah Moy, the cook, who kept Kwaque at a distance and never whispered warning to the others of the risk they ran from continual contact with the carrier of the terrible disease.

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Shimerda opened the bag and stirred the contents with her hand, it gave out a salty, earthy smell, very pungent, even among the other odours of that cave.

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I felt a drop or two of blood from my head trickle down my neck, and was sensible of somewhat pungent suffering: these sensations for the time predominated over fear, and I received him in frantic sort.

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The sensation was like being touched in the marrow with some pungent and searching acid, it set my very teeth on edge.

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The phial, to which I next turned my attention, might have been about half full of a blood-red liquor, which was highly pungent to the sense of smell and seemed to me to contain phosphorus and some volatile ether.

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