First recorded in 1595–1605
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It could also be called a song cycle that employs ear-piercing rock and, for respite, a welcoming string quartet.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2024
“Like a deafening, ear-piercing noise, and after a while, you start to tolerate it. And then before you know it, just block it out.”
From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2023
The only construction activity was a truck that dumped loads of crushed rock, making an ear-piercing screech.
From New York Times • May 31, 2023
She unpaused it just in time for Estonia, prompting the young woman to emit an ear-piercing scream, jump up and hold her scarf above her head as if she was on the Kop.
From BBC • May 14, 2023
The two notes that create the ear-piercing clash are placed at a distance of eleven steps from one other: an E and the Et above it.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
