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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BBC Sport reported on Thursday that Real Madrid have a firm interest in the forward, and Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain and Barcelona are also known to be keen.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
And with Arteta keen to protect the teenager, he was guarded around whether it may be too early to send Dowman out on loan.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Behind it all is a desire to manage tensions between a superpower keen to keep its place at the top and a rapidly rising rival determined to make the 21st century a Chinese one.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a skilled strategic planner with a keen attention to detail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Jess’s keen ears caught every word the Warlord had said.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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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
She’s got a beaten-up suitcase at her feet and keens softly into her lap.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2019
He has too much of his father in him, the forlorn trumpet of John Williams’ score keens.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2019
“This is the thing my blood keens for—to protect something worth protecting.”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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When it comes to courting the EU, Canada appears to some to be even keener than one of the bloc's closest neighbours.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
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
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
John Faa had been supervising the unloading of the ship, and was keen to hear about the witch consul’s words, and even keener to learn of the bear.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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The party congress offers a rare glimpse into the structure of political power in North Korea, which remains highly secretive even to the keenest watchers.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026
The HMV store on Fargate in Sheffield then opened at midnight to give the band's keenest fans an early opportunity to get their hands on the album.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2026
But niche pleasures, for those who partake in them, are often the keenest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 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
When she was about to finish, when my interest was keenest, when I was lost to the world around me, Granny stepped briskly onto the porch.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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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
It was like the whistling of a piccolo many times magnified—shrill and shriller till it keened with the terror of a lost soul and filled the room with the piercingness of itself.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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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
When I set out to write this, I admit, I meant it to be as rueful as Earl’s keening deathbed monologue about “the goddamn regret.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2024
The tone of his voice is high, a keening sound.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2024
In the distance, the sound of keening began.
From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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