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Poignant vs Salient - What's the difference?

poignant | salient |

As adjectives the difference between poignant and salient

is that poignant is sharp-pointed; keen while salient is worthy of note; pertinent or relevant.

As a noun salient is

an outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense.

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 ----

    salient

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Worthy of note; pertinent or relevant.
    • The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well.
  • Prominent; conspicuous.
  • * Bancroft
    • He [Grenville] had neither salient traits, nor general comprehensiveness of mind.
  • (heraldry, usually of a quadruped) Depicted in a leaping posture.
    • a lion salient
  • Projecting outwards, pointing outwards.
    • a salient angle
  • (obsolete) Moving by leaps or springs; jumping.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • frogs and salient animals
  • (obsolete) Shooting out up; springing; projecting.
  • * Burke
    • He had in himself a salient , living spring of generous and manly action.

    Quotations

    {{timeline, 1800s=1878 1898, 1900s=1936}} * 1878 , , Book 2, chapter 5: *: With nearer approach these fragmentary sounds became pieced together, and were found to be the salient points of the tune called "Nancy's Fancy." * 1898 , Book2, chapter 2: *: The last salient point in which the systems of these creatures differed from ours was in what one might have thought a very trivial particular. * 1936 , : *: Warning me that many of the street signs were down, the youth drew for my benefit a rough but ample and painstaking sketch map of the town's salient features.

    Antonyms

    * (prominent) obscure, trivial

    Derived terms

    * salient point

    Related terms

    * salience * saliency

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (military) an outwardly projecting part of a fortification, trench system, or line of defense

    • Derived terms

    * salient pole

    Anagrams

    * ----