poignant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Arousing deep emotion, especially pity or sorrow; touching: synonym: moving.
• adjective Keenly distressing to the mind or feelings.
• adjective Physically painful.
• adjective Piercing; incisive.
• adjective Agreeably intense or stimulating.
• adjective Sharp or sour to the taste; piquant.
• adjective Sharp or pungent to the smell.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Sharp to the taste; biting; piquant; pungent.
• Pointed; keen; sharp.
• Keen; bitter; satirical; hence, telling; striking.
• Severe; piercing; very painful or acute: as, poignant pain or grief.
• Synonyms and Piquant, etc. (see pungent), sharp, penetrating, intense, biting, acrid, caustic.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent.
• adjective Fig.: Pointed; keen; satirical.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective obsolete, of a weapon, etc. Sharp-pointed; keen.
• adjective Incisive; penetrating.
• adjective neat; eloquent; applicable; relevant.
• adjective Evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving.
• adjective figuratively, of a taste or smell Piquant, pungent.
• adjective figuratively Piercing.
• adjective dated, mostly British Inducing sharp physical pain.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective arousing affect
• adjective keenly distressing to the mind or feelings