pique
verb/piːk/
/piːk/
(formal)Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they pique | /piːk/ /piːk/ |
| he / she / it piques | /piːks/ /piːks/ |
| past simple piqued | /piːkt/ /piːkt/ |
| past participle piqued | /piːkt/ /piːkt/ |
| -ing form piquing | /ˈpiːkɪŋ/ /ˈpiːkɪŋ/ |
- pique somebody/something to make somebody annoyed or upset synonym wound1
- The incident piqued his pride.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryPique is used with these nouns as the object:- curiosity
- interest
Word Originmid 16th cent. (denoting animosity between two or more people): from French piquer ‘prick, irritate’.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Idioms
See pique in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarypique somebody’s interest, curiosity, etc.
- to make somebody very interested in something
Homophones peak | peek | piquepeak peek pique
/piːk/
/piːk/
- peak noun
- Mount McKinley is the highest peak in North America.
- peak verb
- Inflation is expected to peak in December.
- peek verb
- I have to peek out from behind a cushion when watching horror films.
- peek noun
- She sneaked a peek at her watch.
- pique noun
- He smashed his racket in a fit of pique.
- pique verb
- He knew the cutting remark would pique his friend's vanity.
Check pronunciation:
pique