as in wailing
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in complaining
to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely
victims of the disaster have been keening for weeks about the slowness of governmental aid
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for keening
Verb
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The irony of the quintessential real estate expert buying a home in the flight path of an international airport, then complaining about the noise, is not lost on the rest of Palm Beach County.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
8 Jan. 2025 -
That first-round pick became Merriman (although, the Giants aren't complaining).—
Ryan Morik,
Fox News,
8 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The name Wolf Moon comes from the sound of wolves howling during this season, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.—
Jenna Prestininzi,
Detroit Free Press,
27 Dec. 2024
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This includes destructive behavior such as chewing and destroying furniture as well as things like howling and barking.—
Joseph Epstein,
Newsweek,
11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.—
David Mamet,
National Review,
11 Aug. 2022
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.—
Helen Shaw,
Vulture,
8 Dec. 2021
Verb
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The whining about everyone else didn’t help, either.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
31 Dec. 2024
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Stop whining and thank your lucky stars for having a job.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes,
27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Left behind were a portrait of her grandmother, photographs of her family, jewelry, wardrobe and the less sentimental essentials of life, glasses for reading music, tax records, medicine, passports and car.—
Thomas Curwen,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Feb. 2025
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As a pianist, Jarrett was like the soul brother of Rachmaninoff crossed with a sentimental free-jazz rhapsodist.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
20 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Beyond all the legal and even medical specifics resides a sense of communal understanding, and — at the risk of sounding mawkish — a deep and abiding love for one’s fellow human beings, which Feder taps into with aplomb.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
28 Jan. 2025
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Co-directed with Jewish Israeli filmmaker Yaron Shani, the movie paints a subtle picture of a society split along fissures religious, political, cultural, and economic, without ever chiding his characters or dipping into mawkish sentimentality.—
Scott Roxborough,
The Hollywood Reporter,
20 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Keening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/keening. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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