pierce

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun 14th President of the United States (1804-1869)
  2. verb cut or make a way through
  3. verb move or affect (a person's emotions or bodily feelings) deeply or sharply

Etymology

From Middle English perce, from conjugated forms of Old French percier such as (jeo) pierce (“I pierce”), probably from Vulgar Latin *pertūsiō, from Latin pertūsus, past participle of pertundō (“thrust or bore through”), from per- (“through”) + tundō (“beat, pound”). Displaced native Old English þȳrlian (literally “to hole”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

Franklin Pierce, President Pierce

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