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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With theatrical timing, Mr. Burnham, a keen soccer fan, took office on Monday, the day after the finale of the globe’s premier sporting event.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Rodri is currently being linked with a move to Real Madrid, where returning manager Jose Mourinho is reportedly very keen on the composure, defensive ability and ball control of the former Atletico and Villarreal midfielder.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Atletico Madrid had also been keen on Gomes but the 25-year-old left Wolves' training camp in Portugal on Thursday to have a medical and finalise his move to Villa Park.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
But that’s also why “The Odyssey” is such a keen disappointment.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
I did not refuse it, for my appetite was awakened and keen.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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
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
Since then, Williams has been a night owl — and an even keener student of the game, of the Rams’ offense and of upcoming opponents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2023
Arm could see over their heads, but unfortunately his eyes were no keener than the next man’s.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
The event was hosted by Wendy Cutler, a veteran American trade negotiator and one of Washington’s keenest observers of Asian trade policy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
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
The most exciting auteurs are the keenest readers of plays.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
Hutton was by all accounts a man of the keenest insights and liveliest conversation, a delight in company, and without rival when it came to understanding the mysterious slow processes that shaped the Earth.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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
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
As the truck made its way across the square, women and children spilled out of their houses, sat down in the dirt, and keened.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 12, 2015
The metal structure keened its mournful note again.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2013
Maalu keened in pain and disappeared below the surface.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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
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
But later, in a videotaped hospital reunion with her parents in which she was blocked from view, the young woman’s audible sobs turned to wild, wordless keening.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 29, 2023
Before I can make up my mind about him, I become aware that there are others moving toward the place, drawn by the old man’s keening.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
Vocabulary lists containing keen
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St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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