keening

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.

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

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

The tone of his voice is high, a keening sound.

From BBC • Oct. 19, 2024

He’s been lauded for sounding like a vestige of another age — his supple, keening tenor the result of years of apprenticeship to the Pakistani artists Ustad Saami and Farida Khanum.

From New York Times • May 10, 2024

They heard the cries of warning of their friends, and the shrill, keening cry of Apolonia, wife of Juan Tomas.

From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck