From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpiquantpi‧quant /ˈpiːkənt/ adjective 1 HOT TASTEhaving a pleasantly spicy taste a piquant wild mushroom sauce► see thesaurus at taste2 INTERESTINGinteresting and exciting —piquantly adverb —piquancy noun [uncountable] The production retains its original piquancy.
Examples from the Corpus
piquant• It is always fresh and often pleasingly piquant.• The piquant champignons had large mushroom caps stuffed with crumbled country sausage and topped with bread crumbs.• a tale full of piquant characters and vivid descriptions• Steve maintains that the peppers give the bland turkey a piquant flavour.• His cilantro-laced sauteed shrimp, piquant goat-cheese salad and tender smoked salmon fettuccine are heavenly enough.• She was weighed down with a confusing mixture of feelings that sometimes felt so mellow and piquant, it was almost pleasant.• This image of an undamaged whole brought with it a doubt which Franca found piquant rather than disturbing.• A piquant salsa verde brought everything together.• a piquant sauce with garlic and red peppers• The piquant sweetness of rhubarb stalks, cooked and raw, have always been popular abroad.Origin piquant (1500-1600) French present participle of piquer; → PIQUE2 