Definition of "keening"

keening

adjective
not comparable
1. Sharp, shrill, especially of a sound.
noun
countable and uncountable, plural keenings
1. Intense mournful wailing after a death, often at a funeral or wake.
  Quotations
  Keening. I remember keening that seemed to go on all through the night: shrill, sharp, shiny, needles of sound piercing cleanly and deeply to let the anguish in, not out.
  1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 85
2. (by extension) An unpleasant wailing sound.
verb
1. present participle and gerund of keen