What is another word for keen?
Synonyms for keen
kinkeen
This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word keen.
English Synonyms and Antonyms
keen
Acute, from the Latin, suggests the sharpness of the needle's point; keen, from the Saxon, the sharpness of the cutting edge. Astute, from the Latin, with the original sense of cunning has come to have a meaning that combines the sense of acute or keen with that of sagacious. The astute mind adds to acuteness and keenness an element of cunning or finesse. The astute debater leads his opponents into a snare by getting them to make admissions, or urge arguments, of which he sees a result that they do not perceive. The acute, keen intellect may take no special advantage of these qualities; the astute mind has always a point to make for itself, and seldom fails to make it. A knowing look, air, etc., in general indicates practical knowledge with a touch of shrewdness, and perhaps of cunning; in regard to some special matter, it indicates the possession of reserved knowledge which the person could impart if he chose. Knowing has often a slightly invidious sense. We speak of a knowing rascal, meaning cunning or shrewd within a narrow range, but of a knowing horse or dog, in the sense of sagacious, implying that he knows more than could be expected of such an animal. A knowing child has more knowledge than would be looked for at his years, perhaps more than is quite desirable, while to speak of a child as intelligent is altogether complimentary.
Synonyms:
acute, astute, clear-sighted, crafty, cunning, discerning, discriminating, knowing, penetrating, penetrative, perspicacious, sagacious, sharp, shrewd, subtile, subtleAntonyms:
blind, dull, idiotic, imbecile, shallow, short-sighted, stolid, stupid, undiscerning, unintelligent
Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms
Princeton's WordNet
keenadjective
a funeral lament sung with loud wailing
Antonyms:
dull, unperceiving, mild, unperceptive, badacute, discriminating, incisive, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharpadjective
having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
"an acute observer of politics and politicians"; "incisive comments"; "icy knifelike reasoning"; "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang"; "penetrating insight"; "frequent penetrative observations"
Synonyms:
intense, penetrative, discriminating, shrill, neat, sharp, shrewd, lancinating, nifty, sharp-worded, not bad(p), bang-up, astute, incisive, acuate, dandy, tart, smashing, cutting, bully, precipitous, needlelike, slap-up, abrupt, lancinate, knifelike, corking, exquisite, groovy, great, acute, piercing, penetrating, swell, cracking, crisp, stabbing, peachyAntonyms:
dull, bad, mild, unperceiving, unperceptiveexquisite, keenadjective
intense or sharp
"suffered exquisite pain"; "felt exquisite pleasure"
Synonyms:
incisive, slap-up, cracking, neat, sharp, lancinating, dainty, cutting, swell, knifelike, great, nifty, not bad(p), discriminating, bang-up, smashing, groovy, acute, corking, penetrating, recherche, exquisite, lancinate, piercing, bully, dandy, peachy, stabbing, penetrativeAntonyms:
dull, unperceptive, mild, unperceiving, badbang-up, bully, corking, cracking, dandy, great, groovy, keen, neat, nifty, not bad(p), peachy, slap-up, swell, smashingadjective
very good
"he did a bully job"; "a neat sports car"; "had a great time at the party"; "you look simply smashing"
Antonyms:
dull, mild, unperceiving, unperceptive, badcutting, keen, knifelike, piercing, stabbing, lancinate, lancinatingadjective
painful as if caused by a sharp instrument
"a cutting wind"; "keen winds"; "knifelike cold"; "piercing knifelike pains"; "piercing cold"; "piercing criticism"; "a stabbing pain"; "lancinating pain"
Synonyms:
slap-up, cracking, neat, sharp, lancinating, wounding, incisive, cutting, peachy, swell, knifelike, corking, bully, dandy, nifty, smashing, not bad(p), raw, discriminating, bang-up, acute, groovy, lancinate, stinging, edged, exquisite, penetrating, piercing, bleak, great, stabbing, penetrativeAntonyms:
dull, bad, unperceptive, unperceiving, mildkeenverb
having a sharp cutting edge or point
"a keen blade"
Synonyms:
slap-up, cracking, neat, sharp, lancinating, incisive, cutting, swell, knifelike, great, nifty, not bad(p), discriminating, bang-up, smashing, groovy, acute, corking, penetrating, exquisite, lancinate, piercing, bully, dandy, peachy, stabbing, penetrativeAntonyms:
dull, bad, unperceptive, unperceiving, mildlament, keenverb
express grief verbally
"we lamented the death of the child"
Synonyms:
lament, deplore, bemoan, bewailAntonyms:
dull, mild, bad, unperceiving, unperceptive
Matched Categories
Dictionary of English Synonymes
keenadjective
keenadjective
Synonyms:
sharp, acute, with a fine edgekeenadjective
Synonyms:
piercing, penetrating, cuttingkeenadjective
Synonyms:
severe, bitter, poignant, acrimonious, caustickeenadjective
Synonyms:
shrewd, discerning, quick, sagacious, astute, keen-sighted, keen-eyed, clear-sighted, long-headed
Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words
keenadjective
Synonyms:
sharp, acute, trenchant, penetrating, shrewd, astute, discerning, piercing, poignant, excruciating, a crimonious, mordacious, bitter, intense, severe, eager, ardent, ravenous, vehement
PPDB, the paraphrase database
List of paraphrases for "keen":
anxious, eager, enthusiastic, willing, fierce, vivo, ardent, fervent, interested, intense, acute, desirous, passionate, strong
Suggested Resources
keen
Song lyrics by keen -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by keen on the Lyrics.com website.
KEEN
What does KEEN stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the KEEN acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.
Words popularity by usage frequency
ranking | word | |
---|---|---|
#209 | great | |
#1340 | strong | |
#1616 | interested | |
#3079 | raw | |
#3091 | sharp | |
#3717 | cutting | |
#3912 | willing | |
#3964 | severe | |
#4704 | knowing | |
#5690 | acute | |
#6394 | prompt | |
#7174 | intense | |
#9217 | keen | |
#9840 | subtle | |
#10534 | neat | |
#10991 | vivo | |
#11018 | piercing | |
#11300 | eager | |
#11793 | crisp | |
#12021 | passionate | |
#13127 | exquisite | |
#13784 | enthusiastic | |
#13864 | anxious | |
#15142 | fierce | |
#15261 | recherche | |
#15269 | cracking | |
#16522 | swell | |
#17616 | nifty | |
#18316 | biting | |
#18998 | groovy | |
#19228 | smashing | |
#20256 | edged | |
#20516 | bully | |
#21938 | tart | |
#22283 | penetrating | |
#24896 | dandy | |
#24948 | discerning | |
#25029 | bleak | |
#25806 | crafty | |
#26623 | cunning | |
#27559 | abrupt | |
#28523 | lament | |
#29124 | discriminating | |
#29779 | sarcastic | |
#32913 | stabbing | |
#33982 | ardent | |
#34018 | astute | |
#38371 | satirical | |
#40176 | stinging | |
#41656 | wounding | |
#42465 | dainty | |
#44023 | incisive | |
#44318 | shrewd | |
#46093 | fervent | |
#46387 | desirous | |
#46745 | shrill | |
#52162 | peachy | |
#75592 | precipitous | |
#76435 | vehement | |
#88536 | deplore | |
#104431 | bemoan | |
#127341 | sagacious | |
#135647 | penetrative | |
#200467 | bewail | |
#206784 | subtile | |
#252858 | corking | |
#268563 | perspicacious |
How to use keen in a sentence?
Cuba is facing a very interesting period and the European Union is keen to see how we can take the relationship forward with strong momentum, the EU has been closely following the developments in Cuba and its relations with key international players, which create new dynamics in the region and in Cuba itself, and provide new opportunities for all.
People don't trust their neighbors, resource and territory claims require a keen knowledge of what the other guy is going, and military operations other than war demand strong situational awareness, and of course, societies, militaries, and non-state armed groups are electronically more noisy than ever, meaning countries need ISR to keep tabs on them.
Japan is keen to play a more active role in the world and it will be exposed to more dangers than it is accustomed to and it needs contingency plans for the future.
Europeans are under no illusion that the US is going to take a radically different approach to China -- Donald Trump has permanently changed the narrative on that, while they are relieved that the White House is going to be more predictable on China and keen to coordinate with partners, they are still going to resist becoming a chip in the Beijing-DC tug of war.
We had constructive talks and we are keen to continue a dialogue with those member states over the coming weeks and months, there is no mechanism for Scotland to remain part of the EU with Britain coming out, but the EU has shown itself to be adaptable and flexible. I'm not suggesting there are simple solutions. We are into uncharted territory here.
Translations for keen
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- متحمسArabic
- entusiastaCatalan, Valencian
- heftig, eifrig, scharf, begeistert, ungestüm, kühn, vehementGerman
- vehemente, entusiasta, fijo, con perspicazSpanish
- vifFrench
- èasgaidhScottish Gaelic
- इच्छुकHindi
- lelkesHungarian
- tajamIndonesian
- entusiasta, voglioso, preparato, intenzionato, propenso, disposto, pronto, desideroso, incline, veementeItalian
- катуу, курч, кескинKyrgyz
- pūkatokatoMāori
- расположенMacedonian
- afiadoPortuguese
- острыйRussian
- முனைப்புடன்Tamil
- hevesli, coşkulu, düşkün, şiddetli, ateşli, istekli, öfkeliTurkish
- гострийUkrainian
- nhiệt tìnhVietnamese
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Translation
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"keen." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/synonym/keen>.
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