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- pronunciation:
- pi
k
 nt
[or]
pi
kant
- features:
- Word Combinations (adjective), Word Parts
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| definition 1: |
of food, having a deliciously sharp or spicy taste.
We were served a piquant broth with flavors of lime and chili peppers.- synonyms:
- savory, sharp, spicy
- antonyms:
- bland, mild
- similar words:
- hot, peppery, pungent, strong, tangy, zesty
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| definition 2: |
lively, stimulating, or interesting; provocative.
The author's piquant treatment of traditional themes makes the book sparkle with originality.- synonyms:
- provocative, stimulating
- antonyms:
- boring, dull
- similar words:
- interesting, pungent, spicy, tantalizing, zesty
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| related words: |
hot, strong, tart |
adverb + (adj.)piquant
rather
(adj.)piquant
+ noun
aroma,
beauty,
bite,
cabbage,
character,
cheese,
contrast,
cow,
curl,
detail,
dish,
dressing,
eggplant,
face,
finish,
fish,
flavor,
juice,
lemon,
look,
mushroom,
note,
odor,
pasta,
peach,
relish,
remoulade,
rhubarb,
rib,
salad,
salsa,
sauce,
scene,
smell,
smoke,
tomato,
touch,
wine
[See all][See only the most frequent]
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| derivations: |
piquantly (adv.), piquancy (n.), piquantness (n.) |
The word piquant
contains the following part:
-ance, -ence, -ency, -ancy
Latin
noun-forming suffix
that means state, quality, or act of
  More about this word part:
The suffix group -ance
, -ence
, -ency
, -ancy
attaches to verbs and Latin verb stems to create nouns. The suffix -ance
is usually attached to whole English words, whereas -ence
is usually attached to roots: compare eloquence
and acceptance
. For most nouns ending in -ance
, -ence
, -ency
, -ancy
, there is a correponsponding adjective form ending in -ant, -ent.
Example words:
absence, acceptance, accountancy, admittance, agency, ambiance, ambience, appetency, arrogance, ascendancy, attendance, audience, belligerency, benevolence, brilliancy, buoyancy, cadence, clemency, complacency, conference, confidence, consequence, conservancy, consistency, constancy, constituency, contingency, counterinsurgency, countertendency, currency, decency, deficiency, delinquency, dependency, despondency, difference, disappearance, discrepancy, disturbance, efficiency, eloquence, emergency, equivalency, excellency, exigency, expectancy, expediency, fluency, frequency, hesitancy, importance, incoherency, inconsistency, incumbency, indecency, independence, independency, inefficiency, infancy, insufficiency, insurgency, interagency, interdependency, itinerancy, latency, leniency, malfeasance, malignancy, mendicancy, nonbelligerency, nonemergency, occupancy, occurrence, patency, permanency, piquancy, poignancy, potency, preference, pregnancy, presidency, proficiency, pungency, redundancy, regency, remembrance, residence, residency, science, solvency, stringency, subagency, sufficiency, superefficiency, superintendency, tenancy, tendency, transparency, urgency, vacancy, vagrancy
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