pique

verb/piːk/

Frequency rank: #13,965 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

to stimulate interest or curiosity; also a feeling of irritation from wounded pride.

Illustration for the English word “pique”

Example sentence

The strange noise began to pique her curiosity as she walked down the hall.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 13,901–14,000