as in wails
a crying out in grief
the loud keens of the widows were heard throughout the war-ravaged city
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in complains
to express dissatisfaction, pain, or resentment usually tiresomely
victims of the disaster have been keening for weeks about the slowness of governmental aid
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for keens
Noun
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Her wails make Davina recall her own confinement, where she was treated similarly awfully and responded by cursing the women in the room.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
5 Sep. 2025 -
An ambulance siren wails past, coming up from the river.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Roman complains about pain in his feet, and Dennis offers him a foot massage.—
Barry Levitt,
Time,
5 Sep. 2025
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Next morning at breakfast Amby complains grandly of his soreness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The screams, the reason everyone assembles, when the screams come, after a few collective inhales and exhales and a moment to gather one’s thoughts, the screams come like long guttural howls.—
Christopher Borrelli,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Sep. 2025
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Foxes use a variety of calls, including barks, howls, yaps, and growls.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Through tears, the father of slain Nasir Delaney-Rowland shared a statement in court that his son was one of a kind.—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
4 Sep. 2025
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There were toasts, happy tears and everyone is thrilled for them.—
Sarah Jones,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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For Bear, the new arrangement is great about 99 percent of the time… the only drawback is that Nikki occasionally snaps back into her old self and screams in utter terror for a few seconds, before resuming the love-bombing.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
6 Sep. 2025
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Nothing screams summer like corn on the cob, simply buttered and salted.—
SAVEUR Editors,
Saveur,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The tightly wound tension is maintained also by Volker Bertelmann’s propulsive score, which starts with ominous juddering groans and keeps shapeshifting throughout.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Sep. 2025
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When his first pass into midfield went straight to the opposition, the groans screamed ‘told you so’.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
9 Aug. 2025
Noun
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However, her cries and pleas only led to Tate hitting her harder.—
Nancy Dillon,
Rolling Stone,
4 Sep. 2025
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If the cries to help the common fan were relatively silent then, what’s the truly new and pressing need for them today?—
John Cassillo,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
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What can be dizzying about the collection is the way traditional themes of Yiddish song and Hebrew liturgy — lyrics of resilience in the face of persecution, prayers of consolation for the brokenhearted, Lamentations read on Tisha B’Av — are recast with the Palestinians as their protagonists.—
Andrew Silow-Carroll,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Aug. 2025
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An artwork from the series Wall of Lamentations by Santiago Montoya that was on view in March at Halcyon Gallery, in London.—
Harper’s Magazine,
Harpers Magazine,
16 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Keens.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/keens. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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