piquancy.

1. A pleasantly sharp or stimulating flavor.

2. An intriguing or mildly provocative quality that makes something more engaging.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• peppery piquancy
• added piquancy

On the page

The dressing gave the lentils a welcome piquancy.

Usage notes

Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: uncommon.