Synonyms for pungent
- acid
- acrid
- aromatic
- bitter
- peppery
- piquant
- poignant
- salty
- sharp
- sour
- spicy
- stinging
- tangy
- zesty
- effluvious
- hot
- nosey
- odoriferous
- racy
- rich
- seasoned
- snappy
- stinking
- strong
- tart
- whiffy
Antonyms for pungent
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR PUNGENT
This conduct bespeaks the most pungent and unaffected sorrow.
It burns like oil, is of a pungent scent, and a blackish color.
The insipid odour of the meat, the pungent smell of the tripe exasperated him.
In all plants which I have found the odor is somewhat strong and the taste is pungent.
The air was thick with the odor of raw blood and pungent with ozone.
It was pungent but delightful, and the stranger remarked upon it.
He roused to the sound of heavy firing and the pungent odour of powder.
Smoke before the men, thick, pungent, told a tale to which they were used.
Is not the book of Proverbs full of grave, dry, pungent humour?
He fell suddenly into the violent, pungent speech of the mule-skinner.
WORD ORIGIN
1590s, "sharp, poignant" (of pain or grief), from Latin pungentem (nominative pungens), present participle of pungere "to prick, pierce, sting," figuratively, "to vex, grieve, trouble, afflict," related to pugnus "fist" (see pugnacious). Meaning "having powerful odor or taste" first recorded 1660s. Literal sense "sharp, pointed" (c.1600) is very rare in English, mostly limited to botany. Middle English and early Modern English also had a now-obsolete verb punge "to prick, pierce; to smart, cause to sting," from Latin pungere. Related: Pungently.