pique
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To excite to action.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
peekIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpik
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
transitive
To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
transitivereflexive
To pride (oneself) on something.
intransitive
To take pride in.
noun
uncountable
Irritation or resentment awakened by a social injury or slight; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little consideration or thought; (countable) especially in fit of pique: a transient feeling of wounded pride.
uncountable
Enmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
Midgie, sand fly, punkie, punky (US)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
Used this way, pique is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Curious and questioning
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.