Ulterior vs Keen - What's the difference?
ulterior | keen |
Situated beyond, or on the farther side.
Beyond what is obvious or evident.
Being intentionally concealed so as to deceive.
* 1956–1960 , (second edition, 1960), chapter ii: “Motives and Motivation”, page 32:
(label) Happening later; subsequent.
:an ulterior action
* 1840 , in The Chemist , volume 1, page 141:
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.
*
As adjectives the difference between ulterior and keen
is that ulterior is situated beyond, or on the farther side while keen is showing a quick and ardent willingness or responsiveness, enthusiastic, eager; interested, intense.As a verb 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.ulterior
English
Alternative forms
* ulteriour (obsolete)Adjective
(-)- Motives, of course, may be mixed; but this only means that a man aims at a variety of goals by means of the same course of action. Similarly a man may have a strong motive or a weak one, an ulterior motive or an ostensible one.
- A rather deep red coloration, which appears by the action of the first bubbles of chlorine, but which soon disappears by the ulterior action of this gas
Usage notes
Ulterior is primarily used today to mean impure, covert, external motives, and generally not opposed to etymological antonyms. In the comparative sense “beyond, farther”, the Latin antonym is , which is not used in English (compare (m)/(m) for “nearest/farthest (cause etc.)”). In the sense “after, subsequent”, it can be opposed to (m), but the sense “after” is now archaic (compare (m)/(m) for “first/last”).Derived terms
* ulterior motiveAntonyms
*External links
* * * ----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.
