shrill

[ shril ]
See synonyms for shrill on Thesaurus.com
adjective,shrill·er, shrill·est.
  1. high-pitched and piercing in sound quality: a shrill cry.

  2. producing such a sound.

  1. full of or characterized by such a sound: shrill music.

  2. betraying some strong emotion or attitude in an exaggerated amount, as antagonism or defensiveness.

  3. marked by great intensity; keen: the shrill, incandescent light of the exploding bomb.

verb (used with or without object)
  1. to cry shrilly.

noun
  1. a shrill sound.

adverb
  1. in a shrill manner; shrilly.

Origin of shrill

1
1300–50; Middle English shrille (adj., v.); akin to Old English scrallettan to sound loudly; cognate with German schrill (adj.), schrillen (v.); compare Old Norse skrīll rabble

Other words from shrill

  • shrillness, noun
  • shrilly, adverb
  • outshrill, verb (used with object)
  • un·shrill, adjective

Words Nearby shrill

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shrill in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for shrill

shrill

/ (ʃrɪl) /


adjective
  1. sharp and high-pitched in quality

  2. emitting a sharp high-pitched sound

verb
  1. to utter (words, sounds, etc) in a shrill tone

  2. (tr) rare to cause to produce a shrill sound

Origin of shrill

1
C14: probably from Old English scralletan; related to German schrill shrill, Dutch schrallen to shriek

Derived forms of shrill

  • shrillness, noun
  • shrilly, adverb

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