What's the difference between halcyon and serene?

Halcyon


Definition:

  • (n.) A kingfisher. By modern ornithologists restricted to a genus including a limited number of species having omnivorous habits, as the sacred kingfisher (Halcyon sancta) of Australia.
  • (a.) Pertaining to, or resembling, the halcyon, which was anciently said to lay her eggs in nests on or near the sea during the calm weather about the winter solstice.
  • (a.) Hence: Calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In the future search for coalition partners, Merkel will be heavily reliant on the hapless foreign minister and Liberal Democrat leader Guido Westerwelle, while the revitalised Social Democrats and the ever-rising Greens can start dreaming again of the halcyon days under Gerhard Schröder and Joschka Fischer.
  • (2) No one is expecting a return the halcyon days of the early noughties when Big Brother regularly brought Channel 4 audiences of 4 million plus, big online audiences and page after page of tabloid coverage throughout the summer months.
  • (3) I remember Peter Shilton and the like doing this on what seemed like a regular basis (although obviously not in the 70s when I was a wee lad)" queried Neil Denny, back in the halcyon days of 2003.
  • (4) Acid phosphatase activity was histochemically localized in the proventriculus of two birds namely Ploceus philippinus and Halcyon smyrnensis.
  • (5) Yes, Fallon may long for the halcyon days when you could call a spade a spade, but since the race-hate sitcom Love Thy Neighbour was cancelled in the mid 1970s, those days are over.
  • (6) The halcyon days of the mid 20th century, where more mothers did stay at home and the father could be a breadwinner, was not the norm for more than a handful of decades.
  • (7) Equally, she does not shy away from emotive language - similar to the majority of her peers - saying: We do not live in halcyon world where choice exists for everyone.
  • (8) If Margate can emulate St Ives, it will mark a stunning comeback for a town whose halcyon days are long behind it.
  • (9) Playwright and director Shoji Kokami's Halcyon Days looks at the rise to cult status of so-called suicide websites reflecting their proliferation in recent years, particularly in Japan and South Korea.
  • (10) In those far-off, halcyon days, local authorities had been obliged by the Conservatives' 1962 Education Act not only to pay full-time students' tuition fees but also a contribution towards maintenance as well: a benefit my generation took for granted.
  • (11) Limited data on mental health suggest that the halcyon picture of country life may be grossly distorted.
  • (12) Pleasance, Sun to 27 Aug Lyn Gardner Halcyon Days, London Halcyon Days.
  • (13) Platinum discs for her 2010 debut album, the electronica-rippled Lights , and its 2012 follow-up, Halcyon , hang in the hallway.
  • (14) "Originally regional newspapers were run by entrepreneurial-type people back in the halcyon days.
  • (15) In what must now seem like the halcyon days of opposition, when he watched a rightwing government disintegrate in grace-and-favour scandals, George Papandreou uttered the immortal words: "The money exists, it is only that Mr [Kostas] Karamanlis prefers to give it to the few and powerful."
  • (16) There's a quiet track on Halcyon (co-written with Justin Parker) called I Know You Care that Goulding has introduced, at gigs, as a song about her absent father.
  • (17) It sounds almost halcyon; the perfect melting-pot with children of all classes and backgrounds getting on together.
  • (18) The rights had becomebecame available after Halcyon, the company that produced Terminator Salvation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 .
  • (19) Throughout Ghomeshi’s trial, as his lawyer Marie Heinen ripped apart the accusers , I found myself recalling a line from Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, set during the halcyon years when America’s biggest problem was the president’s joint taste for cigars and interns.
  • (20) "He appears to want to take us back to some halcyon age but it is a regressive agenda.

Serene


Definition:

  • (a.) Bright; clear; unabscured; as, a serene sky.
  • (a.) Calm; placid; undisturbed; unruffled; as, a serene aspect; a serene soul.
  • (n.) Serenity; clearness; calmness.
  • (n.) Evening air; night chill.
  • (v. t.) To make serene.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Photograph: KHIZR KHAN This sombre, serene oasis overlooking the Potomac river might also prove the graveyard of Donald Trump’s ambitions for the US presidency.
  • (2) Miklos Haraszti, whom I encountered in Budapest, had the looks of a small Spanish grandee in some Velázquez painting; dark, unnervingly handsome, serene.
  • (3) As to Beyoncé herself, Hamilton had nothing but praise: "She is a very smart, serene lady … utterly charming and focused."
  • (4) In the end, after a life of serial duplicity, innocent and otherwise, he found serenity.
  • (5) The life of this once serene and resilient woman has been wrecked.
  • (6) To Mogulof, Mayer almost believed she could charm the Nazis the way she had once-hypnotized her homeland: The ability to endure suffering while showing a serene and confident face came from years of managing a celebrity status.
  • (7) Here, it’s easy to make yourself comfortable in the sweet, slightly whimsical bedrooms that open onto a serene, tree-filled courtyard.
  • (8) Then followed a serene procession of coaches towards a distant detention camp in north-west Turkey, as watching residents expressed relief that no refugees would be settled in their pretty seaside town.
  • (9) Chelsea’s progress into the knockout phase proved serene to the last.
  • (10) "), or Mrs Wilfer, after placing Bella in the magnificent coach of the Boffins, continuing to "air herself … in a kind of splendidly serene trance on the top step" for the benefit of the neighbours.
  • (11) But the serene image masks a politician who has spent much time as chancellor consolidating her place in the CDU, removing rivals and forcing others out.
  • (12) But the scene in the 250-seater conference centre on an unassuming cobbled mews in central London was a far more serene affair.
  • (13) For two serene months after Donald Trump announced in March that he was forming a presidential exploratory committee, he failed to register in national political polls.
  • (14) I'm still serene because I'm sure we will have a chance to be judged on the facts.
  • (15) Guests, who included Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, said the serenity encouraged candidness and conviviality.
  • (16) 'I greet the year 1968 with serenity,' he announced, brimming with self-satisfaction.
  • (17) There’s no bitterness or vitriol on show here, musically at least, with Bowman’s laidback vocals gliding serenely over a juddering, stop-­start beat that eventually disintegrates.
  • (18) Working for nothing and reliant on his family, Niemeyer transformed the Corbusier scheme into the serene, high-rise building that adorns Rio today.
  • (19) He says that drugs are being used “to mask the brutality of executions by making them look serene and peaceful – like something any one of us might experience in our final moments … But executions are, in fact, nothing like that.
  • (20) Manchester City and Chelsea have been comparatively serene in, unlike Arsenal and United, completing much of their transfer business.