KEENING Synonyms: 140 Similar and Opposite Words

keening 1 of 2

adjective

as in wailing

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Dissimilar Words

keening

2 of 2

verb

present participle of keen

as in complaining

to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely victims of the disaster have been keening for weeks about the slowness of governmental aid

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in howling

to make a long loud mournful sound mourners keening for the victims of the bombing

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of keening

Adjective

Languid piano tunes give way to surging, keening tides of strings. — Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2026 Speaking of God, the pedal steel is capable of exaltation, too, the rise and fall of its strings able to emulate a glorious choir or a keening request or spread out like the cosmos itself. — Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork, 20 July 2026 The memoir shows little interest in the gambler’s psychology or the keening dramas of the floor. — Dan Piepenbring, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026 This sequence, with its onstage vengeance, despair and keening dialogue, and its offstage look at how Kikuo’s triumph affects the two people closest to him, is one of the most powerful in the movie. — Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 29 Oct. 2025 But Dunne’s voice, lilting and keening, is rich with empathy. — Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 5 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for keening

Adjective

Sitting opposite an old people’s home in a residential corner of Paris’ 14th arrondissement, La Santé’s unassuming presence is only given away by the occasional wailing siren as prisoners are transported to and from the site.

— Joseph Ataman, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025

Definition of wailing

Verb

But Chee Meng kept complaining about his shirts being misplaced, and Shawn knew that the man was still slipping out, either to look for work or for other purposes.

— Rachel Heng, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
Staff were complaining about the connection in February, Wired reported, and Transformer reported that employees confronted Lehane in a meeting in May, pushing the company to explain its relationship with LTF.

— Garrison Lovely, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of complaining

Verb

The masked figure then loops back, and a howling Wood appears in the frame.

— J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Late one night in October, 2017, Jane Marx, a landscape architect in the wine country of Northern California, woke up to the smell of smoke and the sound of an eerie, howling wind.

— Ingfei Chen, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of howling

Verb

In reviewing the body camera footage, police found that the child was standing on the stairwell at one point and was screaming while holding her left arm up in the air, according to the warrant affidavit.

— Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 4 Oct. 2026
Mahomes’ emotion seemed to bubble over in the second quarter, with CBS cameras catching the quarterback screaming at offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 4 Oct. 2026

Definition of screaming

Adjective

And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.

— David Mamet, National Review, 11 Aug. 2022
The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.

— Helen Shaw, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021

Definition of weeping

Adjective

What was once a contemporary exploration of horror has become a sentimental aesthetic, with this particular version of 2011 looking ironically idealistic because younger viewers never had to live inside it.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Oct. 2026
In a sentimental moment before Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, Bellinger caught the ceremonial first pitch from his father, Clay Bellinger, who played for the Yankees from 1999-2001.

— Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of sentimental

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keened

keening

keenly

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“Keening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/keening. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of keening

adjective

verb

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