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Poignant vs Disappointment - What's the difference?

poignant | disappointment |

As an adjective poignant

is (obsolete|of a weapon etc) sharp-pointed; keen.

As a noun disappointment is

(uncountable) the emotion felt when a strongly held expectation is not met.

poignant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (obsolete, of a weapon etc) Sharp-pointed; keen.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , VII:
    • His siluer shield, now idle maisterlesse; / His poynant speare, that many made to bleed [...].
  • Incisive; penetrating.
    • His comments were poignant and witty.
  • neat; eloquent; applicable; relevant.
    • A poignant reply will garner more credence than hours of blown smoke.
  • Evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving.
    • Flipping through his high school yearbook evoked many a poignant memory of yesteryear.
  • (figuratively, of a taste or smell) Piquant, pungent.
  • Piercing.
  • (dated, mostly British) Inducing sharp physical pain.

    • Synonyms

    * (evoking strong mental sensation) distressing, moving

    Related terms

    * poignancy

    References

    * OED 2nd edition 1989 * Webster Third New International 1986 ----

    disappointment

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (uncountable) The emotion felt when a strongly held expectation is not met.
    • Choking back his disappointment after his own team's splendid wins against Liverpool and Aston Villa, he said: "I've got to be humble and say we were beaten by a very good side."'' — ''Today , News Group Newspapers Ltd, 1992
  • (countable) A circumstance in which a strongly held expectation is not met.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 5 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.}}
    As the disappointments crowded in — the economy, Rhodesia, strife within the trade-union movement — tried the expedient of a semi-formal inner Cabinet, or Parliamentary Committee, as he misleadingly liked to call it.'' — ''Cabinet , Hennessy, Peter, Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1990

    Related terms

    * disappoint