Keen vs Tart - What's the difference?
keen | tart | Related terms |
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.
*
Sharp to the taste; acid; sour.
(of wine) high or too high in acidity.
(figuratively) Sharp; keen; severe.
A type of small open pie, or piece of pastry, containing jelly or conserve; a sort of fruit pie.
(British, slang) A prostitute.
(British, slang, derogatory) By extension, any woman with loose sexual morals.
To practice prostitution
To practice promiscuous sex
To dress garishly, ostentatiously, whorish,or slutty
Keen is a related term of tart.
As adjectives the difference between keen and tart
is that keen is showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense while tart is sharp to the taste; acid; sour.As verbs the difference between keen and tart
is that keen is (rare) to sharpen; to make cold or keen can be to utter a keen while tart is to practice prostitution.As nouns the difference between keen and tart
is that keen is a prolonged wail for a deceased person while tart is a type of small open pie, or piece of pastry, containing jelly or conserve; a sort of fruit pie or tart can be (british|slang) a prostitute.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
* ----tart
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) tart, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)- I ate a very tart apple.
- He gave me a very tart reply.
