as in halfpenny
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Recent Examples of kenning
Jonah Walters, Longreads, 24 Oct. 2024
Most of the writers attempting to imitate Tolkien weren’t steeped in the rhythm of Old English kennings, or the spiritual yearning of chivalric romance.
—Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 2 June 2023
Weinersmith has successfully captured the spirit of this timeless story, weaving in generous amounts of alliteration and his version of Old English kennings, a compound figure of speech that replaces a common noun with two or more words that make for a more figurative than literal description.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 14 Apr. 2023
Noun
The kenning’s true meaning lies beyond the edges of my comprehension.
—Jonah Walters, Longreads, 24 Oct. 2024
Most of the writers attempting to imitate Tolkien weren’t steeped in the rhythm of Old English kennings, or the spiritual yearning of chivalric romance.
—Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 2 June 2023
Weinersmith has successfully captured the spirit of this timeless story, weaving in generous amounts of alliteration and his version of Old English kennings, a compound figure of speech that replaces a common noun with two or more words that make for a more figurative than literal description.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 14 Apr. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kenning
Noun
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Indeed, in 2023, his music earned him just shy of $200,000, about one halfpenny at a time.—
Brett Martin,
New York Times,
31 Mar. 2024
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In nineteenth-century England, tailors would place old halfpennies in the pockets of a man’s new suit for good luck.—
Hua Hsu,
The New Yorker,
18 Sep. 2023
Noun
-
While an insider confirmed to Fox News Digital that there have been whispers of another woman, TMZ was first to report that the country star may already be involved with someone else.—
Christina Dugan Ramirez,
FOXNews.com,
3 Oct. 2025
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Grzeda said the whisper PepsiCo detected in the early 2000s has become a roar, fueled by social media and growing consumer interest in ingredients.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
2 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Shifting gears, rather than perceiving AI as a competitor, budding therapists would be wise to perceive AI as a collaborator.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
-
In 2024, Nepal ranked 107th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, with 84% of people perceiving government corruption to be a major problem.—
Nir Kshetri,
The Conversation,
14 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The search for a mote of relatability has led Burt to excuse-making.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
4 Sep. 2025
-
There’s a Gambit-adjacent one that has players depositing motes while killing other teams.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Previous models treated porosity by simply removing atoms at random from a perfect graphite crystal structure.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Oct. 2025
-
Fusion, the same process which powers the sun, is the opposition of nuclear fission, which is the process of splitting an atom to generate energy.—
Kyle Martin,
Mercury News,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The swift police response and use of video surveillance technology proved crucial in identifying and apprehending the shooter.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Sep. 2025
-
But also on board the ship that night is this detective who is charged with apprehending Providence.—
Olivia Petty,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The whit and the whoo are from different owls.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Sep. 2025
-
After 40 minutes, his energy hasn’t flagged a whit.—
Jeff John Roberts,
Fortune,
2 July 2025
Verb
-
In four days, their season was over following a Wild Card Series loss to the New York Yankees, a series where their youth and inexperience showed.—
Jen McCaffrey,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
-
The series’ first season, chronicling the crimes of Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, prompted a conversation about the exploitation of Black and disabled people’s stories for entertainment, while the season following the Menendez Brothers led to a real-world reconsidering of their guilt.—
Mathew Rodriguez,
Them.,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Kenning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kenning. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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