keen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“It’s terrible that a man has lost his life, I think, because others were so keen on having him burnish their credentials,” said James Cleverly, a former U.K. foreign secretary who is Black.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
France's Culture Minister Catherine Pegard paid tribute to Altmayer as a "producer with a keen eye, capable of bringing together popular comedy and auteur ambition with the same accuracy".
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Currently, investors are more keen on AI infrastructure stocks than potential AI productivity beneficiaries, Goldman acknowledges.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Considering new Green Lanterns are usually only called up when a current one dies, Jordan isn’t really keen on having to teach his “backup.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
“Well, well. Inspector Jarvis will be keen to know that you’re back.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Dr Caulfield said she was "delighted” to see Róis “proudly performing her keens to full houses, with no shame or stigmatisation involved, just audiences loving her bravery and skill".
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
Benjamin Wallfisch’s score keens and groans ominously, sometimes dipping into synthy electronic moments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2024
Behind the action a stringed instrument keens in a low register and a piano riff trembles in a gentle minor key.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2021
She’s got a beaten-up suitcase at her feet and keens softly into her lap.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2019
A sound I didn’t know I could make keens out of me.
From "Ghost Boys" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Dior designer Jonathan Anderson appeared keener than most to take some risks.
From Barron's ● Jan. 25, 2026
The magic is unique and often biological—many characters have mental or physical enhancements that give them perfect memory or keener senses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
It's not hard to imagine which one the family of the time was keener to remember.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2025
What they were keener to talk about was life in Henderson, a city they’d lived in and loved for a long time now—including for the MMA connection.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2024
When Jude began to hover around, she was flattered—all the girls liked him—and Sula made the enjoyment of his attentions keener simply because she seemed always to want Nel to shine.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
Among the candidates for Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh seems keenest to abandon the current regime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Not surprisingly, those countries keenest to see it deployed quickly - including Poland and Finland- are those geographically closest to Russia.
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2025
For our money, Jim is both the funniest and keenest politics writer in the United States—which is to say, readers, your long national nightmare is over!
From Slate ● Aug. 30, 2025
For five years it hosted the country's finest and keenest skateboarders, witnessing flips and tricks as a new subculture boomed in popularity.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
“It said”—LaPautre leaned forward and fixed them all with his keenest, slightly cross-eyed stare—“‘Gaygo!
From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich
But whether the wind produced a lion’s roar, or merely keened or whistled or hummed, at its peak it was clocked by the National Weather Service at Reagan National Airport at 29 mph.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 29, 2020
Well, the souls howled and keened, as distressed souls are known to do, since they understood that a garden that nobody visited was not worth cultivating.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 22, 2019
While the violin lines of “Where Are U Now” keened behind him, his face was slick with sweat.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2015
The metal structure keened its mournful note again.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2013
Above, the wind keened through the Wailing Tower.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Occasionally, Göransson adds a lovely monotone layer of woodwinds or a keening chorus that sounds like the oldest song on Earth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Gilgamesh’s lament is not the stylized keening of epic tradition—not Achilles’ highfalutin howls after Hector strikes down Patroclus—but something rawer, humbler, more recognizably human.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Only a handful of authentic keening songs were recorded from traditional singers, which Róis referenced on the record.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
Shift to Sport mode and the engine will hold at a high, keening rpm, trying to charge the battery faster than the driver can drain it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2025
I crave it with a predator’s impatience, ignoring time, keening to the silence of owls.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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