different between keen vs violent

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ki?n/
• (General American) enPR: k?n, IPA^(key): /kin/
• Rhymes: -i?n
• Homophones: Keane, Keene

Etymology 1

From Middle English kene (“bold, brave, sharp”), from Old English c?ne (“keen, fierce, bold, brave, warlike, powerful; learned, clever, wise”), from Proto-Germanic *k?niz (“knowledgeable, skilful, experienced, clever, capable”), from Proto-Indo-European *?neh?- (“to know”). Cognate with Danish køn (“handsome, pretty”), Dutch kien (“smart, wise, able”), koen (“daring, valiant, doughty, courageous”), German kühn (“bold, daring, audacious, hardy, valiant, venturesome”), Icelandic kænn (“wise, crafty, clever, able”), Scots keen (“lively, brisk; avaricious”). Related to Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). More at cunning, can.

Alternative forms

• keene, kene (both obsolete)

Adjective

keen (comparative keener or more keen, superlative keenest or most keen)

1. (chiefly Commonwealth of Nations) Often with a prepositional phrase, or with to and an infinitive: showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness; eager, enthusiastic, interested.
   • 2000, Jane Green, Bookends, London: Penguin Books, ?ISBN; republished as Bookends: A Novel, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, 2003, ?ISBN, page 304:

     In fact, she doesn't mention the fact that I've obviously been avoiding her, just sounds genuinely thrilled to hear from me, and as soon as I mention getting together she suggests Monday, which is rather keen, even for Portia.

2. Fierce, intense, vehement.
3. Having a fine edge or point; sharp.
4. Acute of mind, having or expressing mental acuteness; penetrating, sharp.
5. Acrimonious, bitter, piercing.
6. Of cold, wind, etc.: cutting, penetrating, piercing, sharp.
   • 1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society. A Poem. Inscribed to the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, ?OCLC; 3rd edition, London: Printed for J. Newbury,^{[sic, meaning Newbery]} in St. Paul's Church-yard, 1765, ?OCLC, page 10:

     Chearful at morn he wakes from ?hort repo?e, / Brea?ts the keen air, and carolls as he goes; […]

7. (Britain) Of prices, extremely low as to be competitive.
8. (US, informal, dated) Marvelous.
9. (obsolete) Brave, courageous; audacious, bold.

Usage notes

Keen is often used to create compounds, the meaning of most of them being fairly obvious, for example, keen-edged, keen-eyed, keen-sighted, keen-witted, etc.

Synonyms

• (showing a quick and ardent responsiveness or willingness): ardent, eager, prompt
• (having a fine edge or point): sharp
• (acrimonious): biting, cutting, piercing
• (acute of mind): acute, penetrating, shrewd; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)

1. (transitive, rare) To make cold, to sharpen.
   • 1730, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, A Hymn, A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, and Britannia, a Poem, London, Printed for J. Millan, near Whitehall; and A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand, ?OCLC; republished in The Works of James Thomson. With His Last Corrections and Improvements. In Four Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1766, ?OCLC, page 93, lines 1256–1259:

     This is the pure?t exerci?e of health, / The kind refre?her of the ?ummer-heats; / Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood, / Would I weak-?hivering linger on the brink.

Etymology 2

From Irish caoin (“to cry, weep; to keen”).

Noun

keen (plural keens)

1. A prolonged wail for a deceased person.

Verb

keen (third-person singular simple present keens, present participle keening, simple past and past participle keened)

1. (intransitive) To utter a keen.
   • 20th century, Stuart Howard-Jones (1904–1974), “Hibernia”, in Kingsley Amis, comp., The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1978, ?ISBN, page 243:

     Last night he had put down too much Potheen / (A vulgar blend of Methyl and Benzene) / That, at some Wake, he might the better keen. / (Keen—meaning 'brisk'? Nay, here the Language warps: / 'Tis singing bawdy Ballads to a Corpse.)

2. (transitive) To utter with a loud wailing voice or wordless cry.
3. (transitive) To mourn.

Related terms

• keener

References

Anagrams

• Enke, kene, knee, kène, neek

Basque

Noun

keen

1. genitive plural of ke

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?e?n/

Particle

keen

1. no, not any, not a

Declension

¹Form used when the plural of the noun is the same as the singular

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke?n/
  • Rhymes: -e?n

Particle

keen m or n

1. no, not any, not a

Declension

Somali

Verb

keen

1. bring

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English kene, from Old English c?ne.

Adjective

keen

1. sharp

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN

English

Etymology

From Middle English violent, from Old French violent, from Latin violentus, from v?s (“strength”). For the verb, compare French violenter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?va?.?.l?nt/, /?va?.l?nt/
• Rhymes: -a?l?nt
• Hyphenation: vi?o?lent, vio?lent

Adjective

violent (comparative violenter or more violent, superlative violentest or most violent)

1. Involving extreme force or motion.

2. Involving physical conflict.

3. Likely to use physical force.

4. Intensely vivid.

   • We have already observed, that he was a very good-natured fellow, and he hath himself declared the violent attachment he had to the person and character of Jones […]

5. Produced or effected by force; not spontaneous; unnatural.
   • 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth

     and no violent state by his own Maxim, can be perpetual,

Antonyms

• peaceful

Related terms

• violence

Translations

Verb

violent (third-person singular simple present violents, present participle violenting, simple past and past participle violented)

1. (transitive, archaic) To urge with violence.

   • a great adversary , stepping in , so violented his Majesty to a trial

Noun

violent (plural violents)

1. (obsolete) An assailant.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. H. More to this entry?)

Anagrams

• LOVEINT

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin violentus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /vi.o?lent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /bi.u?len/

Adjective

violent (feminine violenta, masculine plural violents, feminine plural violentes)

1. violent

Derived terms

• violentament

Related terms

• violència

Further reading

• “violent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “violent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “violent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “violent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology 1

Borrowed into Old French from Latin violentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vj?.l??/

Adjective

violent (feminine singular violente, masculine plural violents, feminine plural violentes)

1. violent
2. severe

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vj?l/
• Homophones: viole, violes

Verb

violent

1. inflection of violer:
   1. third-person plural present indicative
   2. third-person plural present subjunctive

Anagrams

• ventilo, voilent

Further reading

• “violent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

violent

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of viol?

Middle English

Alternative forms

• vyolent, wyolent, vilent

Etymology

From Old French violent, from Latin violentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?vi??l??nt/, /?vi??l??nt/, /vi?l??nt/, /?vi??l?nt/

Adjective

violent (plural and weak singular violente)

1. Violent, forcible, injury-causing.
2. Potent, mighty, damaging, forceful
3. Severe, extreme; excessive in magnitude.
4. Tending to cause injuries; likely to cause violence.
5. Abrupt; happening without warning or notice.
6. (rare) Despotic, authoritarian; ruling unfairly.

Related terms

• violence
• violently

Descendants

• English: violent

References

• “v??olent, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-05-30.

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin violentus.

Adjective

violent m (feminine singular violenta, masculine plural violents, feminine plural violentas)

1. violent

Related terms

• violéncia

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin violentus.

Adjective

violent m (oblique and nominative feminine singular violent or violente)

1. violent (using violence)

Descendants

• ? Middle English: violent, vyolent, wyolent, vilent
  • English: violent
• French: violent

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vju?l??t/

Adjective

violent

1. violent

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French violent, Latin violentus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.o?lent/

Adjective

violent m or n (feminine singular violent?, masculine plural violen?i, feminine and neuter plural violente)

1. violent

Declension

Related terms

• violen??