Adjective
She looked at me with piercing eyes, and I was suddenly frightened that she knew what I had done.
I tried to avoid his piercing stare.
She felt a piercing sadness when she heard the news. Noun
There's a small shop in town where they do tattooing and body piercing.
She got another ear piercing.
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Adjective
What spooks Vara is that A.I. writes what are possibly her essay’s most piercing lines.—Dwight Garner, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025 Only Jean-Baptiste could make such a screed so funny, so piercing and so devastating.—Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 10 Jan. 2025
Noun
Death grabs Erik by the nose, literally, when his nasal piercing gets caught in a chain wrapped around a fan.—Mike Miller Published, EW.com, 5 May 2025 Swelling: Swelling around the piercing is another common side effect; because the daith piercings go through cartilage, healing can take several months.—Mark Gurarie, Verywell Health, 22 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for piercing
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