1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
a plangent, haunting song about a long-ago love
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in loud
marked by a high volume of sound
plangent organ music filled the church
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3
as in ringing
marked by conspicuously full and rich sounds or tones
the strong, plangent tones of a Louis Armstrong trumpet solo
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Recent Examples of plangent
The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, that warhorse of English traditionalism, is mentioned six times, and his plangent music—invoking a lost, idyllic England; a greener, more pleasant land—could easily be the novel’s soundtrack.
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Charles McGrath, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2024
The Tokyo composer and guitarist riffs on themes of real and imagined memories and the passage of time in plangent compositions replete with airy tones, childlike melodies, and molasses-thick smears of resonant harmony.
—Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 6 Oct. 2023
Indeed the music, with its banging, techno-style beats looped against plangent piano, analogizes Jamal’s predicament rather perfectly.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Mar. 2023
The piercing sense of place that Samuel D. Hunter brings to his work, the majority of it set in his home state of Idaho, has perhaps never been accompanied by such plangent notes of sorrow as in his new play, Greater Clements.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Dec. 2019
Image The pool party is a squirmy tour de force embellished with a punctuating zoom and a plangent sense of dread that make Kayla’s isolation feel like alienation.
—Bo Burnham, New York Times, 11 July 2018
Though a handful of tracks feature plangent cello by Katinka Kleijn (a member of the CSO and ICE), who shades the chord changes and enriches the interplay, most of the album is just two guitars ringing out with relaxed, natural beauty.
—Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader, 12 Oct. 2017
Charles McGrath, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2024
The Tokyo composer and guitarist riffs on themes of real and imagined memories and the passage of time in plangent compositions replete with airy tones, childlike melodies, and molasses-thick smears of resonant harmony.
—Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 6 Oct. 2023
Indeed the music, with its banging, techno-style beats looped against plangent piano, analogizes Jamal’s predicament rather perfectly.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Mar. 2023
The piercing sense of place that Samuel D. Hunter brings to his work, the majority of it set in his home state of Idaho, has perhaps never been accompanied by such plangent notes of sorrow as in his new play, Greater Clements.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Dec. 2019
Image The pool party is a squirmy tour de force embellished with a punctuating zoom and a plangent sense of dread that make Kayla’s isolation feel like alienation.
—Bo Burnham, New York Times, 11 July 2018
Though a handful of tracks feature plangent cello by Katinka Kleijn (a member of the CSO and ICE), who shades the chord changes and enriches the interplay, most of the album is just two guitars ringing out with relaxed, natural beauty.
—Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader, 12 Oct. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plangent
Adjective
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Very few directors working today can put across a movie like Gladiator II as convincingly, which perhaps explains why the sequel — for all its barbaric violence and the plaintive, at times stirring, discussions about justice and democracy — doesn’t have the mournful quality that the first film did.Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
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Russell Crowe beating people to death in a soulful, mournful way?Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The result has been a film rollout that at times feels louder than the film itself.New York Times, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2024
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And that’s the fine line developers and studio heads have to walk in the face of this newer, meaner, louder movement against diversity in the industry: whether or not to acknowledge its existence.Alyssa Mercante, Rolling Stone, 7 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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His ringing, carefree laugh mixed with soaring rhetoric about democracy, working families and hope.Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2024
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Frey’s slow strumming and ringing, open chords add a country feel to what is, at its essence, an R&B waltz, and Meisner’s walking bass line summons a bluegrass feel.Rob Tannenbaum, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2023
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
Adjective
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Zoom out: While these protests may be vociferous, there's an equally deafening volume of grievances the SEC sees.Hope King, Axios, 28 Oct. 2024
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McBride’s defense turned into offense that later induced more deafening pops from The Garden crowd.Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 23 Apr. 2024
Adjective
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Her cousin was sitting with her mom at their round wooden kitchen table.Taylor Galgano, CNN, 12 Dec. 2024
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Topping the two main sapphires are oval and round diamonds.Anthony DeMarco, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Dido, after her lover Aeneas deserts her, kills herself with his sword on a funeral pyre, but not before building an effigy of him to burn alongside her.Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024
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The Associated Press reported that the funeral location was not made public in advance to prevent a large crowd from gathering.Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Like, watched it all the way through from the shrill opening filled with obnoxious kids to the leadenly staged slapstick climax?Keith Phipps, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2024
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Further down the road, another piper — just playing to play — is sending his shrill notes out into the night sky.Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic, 5 July 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near plangent
Cite this Entry
“Plangent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plangent. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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