poignant (adjective) [pronounce: poin-yent] – moving, emotional, and/or painful

poignancy, poignance (noun) – being moving, emotional, and/or painful

poignantly (adverb) – in a way that is moving, emotional, and/or painful

Here are some examples of how you can use poignant:

I had to wipe away a tear when I listened to her poignant story.

It was a poignant scene when Spencer was fired from his job and was asked to remove his belongings from his desk.

Their gratitude at receiving the box full with food was poignant.

He remembers when he first received the news of his wife’s cancer with keen poignancy.

The poignancy of those events still bring tears to his eyes.

She worked on my pity with a poignantly written email.