Keen vs Bright - What's the difference?
keen | bright |
showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense.
vehement; fierce; as, a keen appetite.
* (rfdate),
* (rfdate), Shakespeare
sharp; having a fine edge or point.
* (rfdate) :
acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness.
* (rfdate),
* (rfdate),
bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe; as, keen satire or sarcasm.
* (rfdate)
piercing; penetrating; cutting; sharp; -- applied to cold, wind, etc,; as, a keen wind; the cold is very keen.
* (rfdate),
Enthusiastic
(US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
(UK) extremely low as to be competitive.
(obsolete) brave, courageous; bold, audacious.
(rare) To sharpen; to make cold.
* (rfdate), Thomson.
To utter a keen.
* (rfdate) Stuart Howard-Jones (1904-1974), Hibernia.'' Collected in ''The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, 1978.
To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
*
To mourn.
*
Visually dazzling; luminous, lucent, clear, radiant; not dark.
:
*
*:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
*Sir (Francis Drake) (c.1540-1596)
*:The earth was dark, but the heavens were bright .
* (1800-1859)
*:The public places were as bright as at noonday.
*(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)
*:The sun was bright o'erhead.
Having a clear, quick intellect; intelligent.
:
* Episode 16
*:—Ah, God, Corley replied, sure I couldn't teach in a school, man. I was never one of your bright ones, he added with a half laugh.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Vivid, colourful, brilliant.
:
*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
*:Here the bright crocus and blue violet grew.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
Happy, in (soplink).
:
*1937 , , (The Hobbit) , Ch.11:
*:Their spirits had risen a little at the discovery of the path, but now they sank into their boots; and yet they would not give it up and go away. The hobbit was no longer much brighter than the dwarves. He would do nothing but sit with his back to the rock-face and stare.
Sparkling with wit; lively; vivacious; cheerful.
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:Be bright and jovial among your guests.
Illustrious; glorious.
*(Charles Cotton) (1630-1687)
*:the brightest annals of a female reign
Clear; transparent.
*(James Thomson) (1700-1748)
*:From the brightest wines / He'd turn abhorrent.
(lb) Manifest to the mind, as light is to the eyes; clear; evident; plain.
*(Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)
*:with brighter evidence, and with surer success
An artist's brush used in oil and acrylic painting with a long ferrule and a flat, somewhat tapering bristle head.
(obsolete) splendour; brightness
* Milton
(neologism) A person with a naturalistic worldview with no supernatural or mystical elements.
* {{quote-news, date = 2003-06-20
, title = The future looks bright
, first = Richard
, last = Dawkins
, authorlink = Richard Dawkins
, newspaper = (The Guardian)
, issn = 0261-3077
, url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/jun/21/society.richarddawkins
, passage = Brights' constitute 60% of American scientists, and a stunning 93% of those scientists good enough to be elected to the elite National Academy of Sciences (equivalent to Fellows of the Royal Society) are ' brights .
}}
* {{quote-book, date = 2006-02-02
, title = Breaking the Spell: Religion As a Natural Phenomenon
, first = Daniel C.
, last = Dennett
, authorlink = Daniel C. Dennett
, location = New York
, publisher = Viking
, isbn = 9780670034727
, ol = 3421576M
, page = 27
, pageurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=yWtwDDqR61QC&pg=PA27&dq=brights
, passage = Many of us brights' have devoted considerable time and energy at some point in our lives to looking at the arguments for and against the existence of God, and many ' brights continue to pursue these issues, hacking away vigorously at the arguments of believers as if they were trying to refute a rival scientific theory.
}}
* {{quote-book, date = 2008-03-17
, title = The Delusion of Disbelief: Why the New Atheism Is a Threat to Your Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness
, first = David
, last = Aikman
, location = Carol Stream
, publisher = Tyndale House Publishers
, isbn = 9781414317083
, ol = 24967138M
, page = 28
, pageurl = http://books.google.com/books?id=zn6XkS-4BJcC&pg=PA28&dq=brights
, passage = Dawkins has received appreciative letters from people who were formerly what he derisively calls "faith-heads" who have abandoned their delusions and come over to the side of the brights , the pleasant green pastures where clear-eyed, brave, bold, and supremely brainy atheists graze contentedly.
}}
*
As an adjective keen
is showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense.As a verb keen
is (rare) to sharpen; to make cold or keen can be to utter a keen.As a noun keen
is a prolonged wail for a deceased person.As a proper noun bright is
.keen
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . More at (l), (l).Alternative forms
* keene, kene (archaic)Adjective
(er)- Of full keen will.
- So keen and greedy to confound a man.
- That my keen knife see not the wound it makes.
- To make our wits more keen .
- Before the keen inquiry of her thought.
- Good father cardinal, cry thou amen to my keen curses.
- Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.
- I'm keen to learn another language.
- I'm keen on learning another language.
- I'm keen on languages.
- I'm keen about learning languages.
- I'm keen for help.
- ''"Do you want to learn another language?" / "I'm keen ."
- I just got this peachy keen new dress.
- keen prices
Usage notes
* Keen is often used in the composition of words, most of which are of obvious signification; as, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.Synonyms
* prompt; eager; ardent; sharp; acute; cutting; penetrating; biting; severe; sarcastic; satirical; piercing; shrewd. * See alsoDerived terms
* keen-witted * keen as mustard * keen on * keenly * keennessVerb
(en verb)- Cold winter keens the brightening flood.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- Keen —meaning 'brisk'? Nay, here the Language warps:
'Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.
Anagrams
* ----bright
English
Adjective
(er)Revenge of the nerds, passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
Synonyms
* See alsoDerived terms
* * brighten * bright-eyed * bright-eyed and bushy-tailed * brightness * bright side * bright young thing * brightwork * eyebrightSee also
* (Brights movement)Noun
(en noun)- Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear.