Antonyms for pungent
ˈpʌn dʒəntpun·gent

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. pungent

   Acid, sour, and bitter agree in being contrasted with sweet, but the two former are sharply distinguished from the latter. Acid or sour is the taste of vinegar or lemon-juice; bitter that of quassia, quinine, or strychnine. Acrid is nearly allied to bitter. Pungent suggests the effect of pepper or snuff on the organs of taste or smell; as, a pungent odor. Caustic indicates the corroding effect of some strong chemical, as nitrate of silver. In a figurative sense, as applied to language or character, these words are very closely allied. We say a sour face, sharp words, bitter complaints, caustic wit, cutting irony, biting sarcasm, a stinging taunt, harsh judgment, a tart reply. Harsh carries the idea of intentional and severe unkindness, bitter of a severity that arises from real or supposed ill treatment. The bitter speech springs from the sore heart. Tart and sharp utterances may not proceed from an intention to wound, but merely from a wit recklessly keen; cutting, stinging, and biting speech indicates more or less of hostile intent, the latter being the more deeply malicious. The caustic utterance is meant to burn, perhaps wholesomely, as in the satire of Juvenal or Cervantes. Compare MOROSE.

   Antonyms:
   dulcet, honeyed, luscious, nectared, saccharine, sweet

   Synonyms:
   acerb, acetous, acid, acidulated, acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, biting, bitter, caustic, cutting, harsh, irate, savage, sharp, sour, stinging, tart, vinegarish, virulent

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pungent

   Antonyms:
   soothing, mellow, luscious, unctuous

   Synonyms:
   pricking, piercing, acrid, mordant, biting, stinging, stimulating, keen, trenchant, caustic, piquant, sarcastic

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:5.0 / 2 votes

1. pungent, acridadjective

   strong and sharp;"the pungent taste of radishes"

   "the acrid smell of burning rubber"

   Antonyms:
   unsarcastic, tasteless

   Synonyms:
   caustic, mordacious, acrid, vitriolic, acid, barbed, sulphurous, biting, bitter, virulent, blistering, acerbic, sulfurous, acerb, nipping

2. barbed, biting, nipping, pungent, mordaciousadjective

   capable of wounding

   "a barbed compliment"; "a biting aphorism"; "pungent satire"

   Antonyms:
   unsarcastic, tasteless

   Synonyms:
   briary, nipping, prickly, barbed, setose, mordacious, snappy, crisp, burred, nippy, bristly, barbellate, setaceous, briery, thorny, acrid, burry, biting, bitter, spiny, bristled, frosty

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pungentadjective

   Synonyms:
   pricking, stinging, poignant, sharp, excruciating, severe

How to use pungent in a sentence?

1. Louis Aragon:

   Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.

2. Aurora Anaya-Cerda:

   Marigold flowers are used for Day of the Dead because of their pungent smell. It's supposed to attract the spirits back on this one day they are allowed to return to visit family and friend.

3. Olga Guseva:

   One was holding the door, the other one with [ screams of profanities ] threw a bottle with a yellow liquid with a strong pungent chemical smell.

4. Robert Southey:

   If you would be pungent, be brief for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.

5. Robert Southey:

   If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams - the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.

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