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Poignant vs Touching - What's the difference?

poignant | touching |

Touching is a synonym of poignant.



As adjectives the difference between poignant and touching

is that poignant is sharp-pointed; keen while touching is provoking sadness and pity.

As a verb touching is

present participle of lang=en.

As a noun touching is

the act by which something is touched.

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 ----

    touching

    English

    Verb

    (head)

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Provoking sadness and pity.
    • a touching story

    Synonyms

    * emotional, moving, sad

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act by which something is touched.
  • * 2011 , Lance J. Rips, Lines of Thought: Central Concepts in Cognitive Psychology (page 168)
    • But we can also take a more analytical attitude to these displays, interpreting the movements as no more than approachings, touchings , and departings with no implication that one shape caused the other to move.

    Anagrams

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