piercingly

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.

There, he earned a reputation as a piercingly thorough interviewer of victims and witnesses—but also an uncommonly gentle and sympathetic one.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026

Her works achieve the difficult feat of synthesizing a coma-inducing dullness with piercingly shrill extended diatribes to create reverse masterpieces worthy of the most risible North Korean propaganda.

From Salon • Sep. 7, 2024

But it’s to the credit of this movie, shrewd and sardonic before it turns piercingly sad, that we see him more clearly than Gracie or Elizabeth possibly can.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2023

Around Hamm’s neck hangs a whistle, and when he blows it to summon the beaten-down Clov, it is piercingly shrill — a sound to cut through far more noise and distance than ever separate them.

From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2023

“Stick it back in the trunk,” Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, “or it’ll wake him up.”

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling