How to Use pungency in a Sentence

pungency

noun
Definition of pungencynext
Synonyms for pungencynext
  • Feta cheese creams out the pesto and tames the pungency of the broccoli.
    — Christian Reynoso, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Sep. 2021
  • The sauce is honeyed and tomato-rich, faintly spicy, with a pinch of oregano added at the end for pungency.
    — Sam Sifton, New York Times, 29 May 2018
  • The Reaper clocks in at 2.2 million Scoville heat units (the Scoville scale is used to gauge the pungency of chili peppers).
    — Craig Hlavaty, Houston Chronicle, 21 Mar. 2018
  • The oyster sauce lends the dish a rich savoriness without the pungency that can come with seafood.
    — Amber Lee, Bon Appétit, 18 Nov. 2020
  • But none of them has the musky pungency that makes the herb such a hallmark of Peruvian cooking.
    — Gustavo Arellanostaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2019
  • The highveld mole rat is immune to the pungency of mustard, radishes, and wasabi.
    — Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's magazine, 22 July 2019
  • It clocks in at 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units (the Scoville scale is used to gauge the pungency of chile peppers).
    — Greg Morago, Houston Chronicle, 7 Feb. 2018
  • There was a pungency in Apple’s torch-and-honey voice emitting growls, shrieks, and hoots.
    — Mick Stevens, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2021
  • The pungency of the horseradish, which can make onions seem mild mannered, would make their eyes water.
    — Carol Deptolla, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2022
  • The green onions add some pungency, and the cheddar cheese ensures that even the brisket that's not in direct contact with the mac n' cheese is still touching cheese.
    — Ted Berg, USA TODAY, 27 Oct. 2017
  • The pungency does wonders for adding depth, heat, and extra oomph that takes it from good to memorable.
    — Antara Sinha, Bon Appétit, 13 Sep. 2022
  • If it’s made well, the oil will strike a balance of fruitiness, bitterness and pungency.
    — Ted Trautman, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 June 2018
  • The oppressive heat gave added pungency to the smell of human filth in the Girgaun district of Bombay's slums.
    — Lily Rothman, Time, 9 Aug. 2017
  • This fried chicken takes on the umami of anchovy, the pungency of garlic, heat and spice for a quartet of flavors.
    — Christian Reynoso, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 June 2021
  • Aroma dissipates but can linger The aroma has the sharp pungency of a rotten egg.
    — Richard Ruelas, azcentral, 27 Mar. 2018
  • In terms of pungency, white are generally the mildest, red the sharpest, and yellow somewhere in between.
    — Alex Delany, Bon Appétit, 17 May 2021
  • Soak them in cold water for 5 minutes, then drain; this will reduce their pungency.
    — The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 28 Dec. 2017
  • Indians were slandered for the pungency of their spices.
    — David Sax, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2017
  • The tomatoes are bright and tangy, while the garlic cloves are melt-away mellowness with very little of the biting pungency of fresh garlic.
    — Paul Stephen, ExpressNews.com, 6 May 2020
  • This is in no way a diss of Wilbur Scoville, the pharmacist who came up with this way of measuring pepper pungency back in, yes, 1912.
    — Tamar Haspel, Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2022
  • Crushed coconut, fresh cilantro and lemon juice form a base that gains heat from green chiles and additional pungency from onions and vinegar.
    — Becky Krystal, Washington Post, 4 Sep. 2020
  • These chapters are held together not so much by theme as by pungency.
    — The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
  • The surprise was that the sharp, gamy pungency of the quails flavored the pork as much as the pork flavored them, an ancient taste that I had never suspected existed.
    — Jonathan Gold, latimes.com, 26 May 2017
  • Then there’s an additional sense of pungency, [as in] the burning feeling of pepper from hot wings.
    — NBC News, 30 Oct. 2017
  • And the focus on a real person over a period of years certainly adds pungency to the debate.
    — Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Nov. 2019
  • Judges described the thick-walled fruits as spicy, but tastier than the traditional cayenne, with just enough pungency for interest.
    — Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp, Indianapolis Star, 9 Feb. 2018
  • Both the bratwurst and the wiener, reminiscent of a hot dog that spent a semester abroad, have a pleasantly snappy casing and a peppery pungency.
    — Washington Post, 20 Sep. 2019
  • Don’t overlook Bilavarn’s papaya salad, a crisp, fragrant muddle underscored with the pungency of shrimp paste and fish sauce.
    — Patricia Escárcega, latimes.com, 3 July 2019
  • The pungency of the garlic is gone, replaced by mellow sour notes accentuated with a pleasant, sake-like scent.
    — Julia Skinner, Longreads, 16 July 2022
  • The bread is also laced with roasted garlic cloves and scallions for a contrast of alliums at their best — a deep and sweet caramelized pungency from the garlic and verdant green onion bite from the scallions.
    — Paul Stephen, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Mar. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pungency.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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