HOW TO PRONOUNCE
pique
/pik/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does pique mean?
verb
- To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
- To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
- To pride (oneself) on something.
More meanings (13)
verb
- To take pride in.
- To excite to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest.
- (obsolete) To excite or stimulate (oneself).
- (obsolete, rare) To express jealousy, resentment, etc. at someone; to become angry or annoyed.
- (archaic, obsolete) To score a pique against (someone).
noun
- Enmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
- Irritation or resentment awakened by a social injury or slight; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little consideration or thought; (countable) especially in fit of pique: a transient feeling of wounded pride.
- In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
- midgie, sand fly, punkie, punky (US)
- Alternative form of piqué (“a kind of corded or ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk”).
- (obsolete) In pique of honour: a matter, a point.
- (obsolete) A chigger, chigoe, or jigger (Tunga penetrans), a species of tropical flea.
- (obsolete, rare) Synonym of pica (“a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”).
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/pik/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Don't they confess that they have gone the greatest lengths, and risked the safety of their country on a mere personal pique?
It may be that the patriotic trend of the Otises was intensified a little by a personal pique in the matter referred to.
More book examples (3)
That great defying eye, that scornful beauty of his mien and action, do not pique yourself on reducing, but rather fortify and enhance.
She even fancied—what will not men and women fancy in these matters?—that Will exaggerated his admiration for Mrs. Casaubon in order to pique herself.
The true cause of which was not the pique he was alleged to have taken at the people, but the ill circumstances of the Achaean affairs.