Definition of "pique" [pique]

• A state of vexation caused by a perceived slight or indignity; a feeling of wounded pride. (noun)
• To cause to feel resentment or indignation. (verb-transitive)
• To provoke; arouse: The portrait piqued her curiosity. (verb-transitive)
• To pride (oneself): He piqued himself on his stylish attire. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As to ----, your doing anything in 'pique' is quite unworthy of you, and it only recoils on yourself; the harder we strike, whether in revenge or justice, it comes back upon ourselves with far more pain than we have wished to inflict."
• "These are nasty birds and pique is too delicate a word to describe what burns inside them."
• "Holding that kind of work up out of pique is really and truly outrageous and deserves to be described as such unleavened by strained efforts to hit both sides."