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Secure vs Keen - What's the difference?

secure | keen | Related terms |

Secure is a related term of keen.


As adjectives the difference between secure and keen

is that secure is free from attack or danger; protected while keen is showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense.

As verbs the difference between secure and keen

is that secure is to make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect while 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.

secure

English

Alternative forms

* secuer (obsolete)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Free from attack or danger; protected.
  • Free from the danger of theft; safe.
  • Free from the risk of eavesdropping, interception or discovery; secret.
  • Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
  • * Dryden
  • But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes.
  • Firm and not likely to fail; stable.
  • Free from the risk of financial loss; reliable.
  • Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly used with of .
  • secure of a welcome
  • * Milton
  • Confidence then bore thee on, secure / Either to meet no danger, or to find / Matter of glorious trial.
  • Overconfident; incautious; careless.
  • (Macaulay)

    Antonyms

    * insecure

    Derived terms

    * securely

    Verb

    (secur)
  • To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
  • * Dryden
  • I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, / Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight.
  • To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; frequently with against'' or ''from'', or formerly with ''of .
  • to secure''' a creditor against loss; to '''secure a debt by a mortgage
  • * T. Dick
  • It secures its possessor of eternal happiness.
  • To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.
  • to secure''' a prisoner; to '''secure a door, or the hatches of a ship
  • To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.
  • to secure an estate
  • * 2014 , Jamie Jackson, " Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real", The Guardian , 26 August 2014:
  • With the Argentinian secured United will step up their attempt to sign a midfielder and, possibly, a defender in the closing days of the transfer window. Juventus’s Arturo Vidal, Milan’s Nigel de Jong and Ajax’s Daley Blind, who is also a left-sided defensive player, are potential targets.
    "[Captain] was able to secure some good photographs of the fortress." (Flight, 1911, p. 766)
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}

    Anagrams

    * ----

    keen

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . More at (l), (l).

    Alternative forms

    * keene, kene (archaic)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense.
  • vehement; fierce; as, a keen appetite.
  • * (rfdate),
  • Of full keen will.
  • * (rfdate), Shakespeare
  • So keen and greedy to confound a man.
  • sharp; having a fine edge or point.
  • * (rfdate) :
  • That my keen knife see not the wound it makes.
  • acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness.
  • * (rfdate),
  • To make our wits more keen .
  • * (rfdate),
  • Before the keen inquiry of her thought.
  • bitter; piercing; acrimonious; cutting; stinging; severe; as, keen satire or sarcasm.
  • * (rfdate)
  • Good father cardinal, cry thou amen to my keen curses.
  • piercing; penetrating; cutting; sharp; -- applied to cold, wind, etc,; as, a keen wind; the cold is very keen.
  • * (rfdate),
  • Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.
  • Enthusiastic
  • 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 ."
  • (US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
  • I just got this peachy keen new dress.
  • (UK) extremely low as to be competitive.
  • keen prices
  • (obsolete) brave, courageous; bold, audacious.
  • 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 also
    Derived terms
    * keen-witted * keen as mustard * keen on * keenly * keenness

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (rare) To sharpen; to make cold.
  • * (rfdate), Thomson.
  • Cold winter keens the brightening flood.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A prolonged wail for a deceased person.
  • * '>citation
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To utter a keen.
  • * (rfdate) Stuart Howard-Jones (1904-1974), Hibernia.'' Collected in ''The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, 1978.
  • Keen —meaning 'brisk'? Nay, here the Language warps:
    'Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.
  • To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
  • *
  • To mourn.
  • *
  • Anagrams

    * ----