strident

[ strahyd-nt ]

adjective

1. making or having a harsh sound; grating; creaking:

   strident insects; strident hinges.

2. having a shrill, irritating quality or character:

   a strident tone in his writings.

3. Linguistics. (in distinctive feature analysis) characterized acoustically by noise of relatively high intensity, as sibilants, labiodental and uvular fricatives, and most affricates.

strident

/ ˈstraɪdənt /

adjective

1. (of a shout, voice, etc) having or making a loud or harsh sound
2. urgent, clamorous, or vociferous

   strident demands

Derived Forms

• ˈstridence, noun
• ˈstridently, adverb

Other Words From

• stridence striden·cy noun
• strident·ly adverb
• non·strident adjective
• over·stridence noun
• over·striden·cy noun
• over·strident adjective
• over·strident·ly adverb
• un·strident adjective
• un·strident·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of strident¹

1650–60; < Latin strīdent- (stem of strīdēns ), present participle of strīdēre to make a harsh noise; -ent

Word History and Origins

Origin of strident¹

C17: from Latin strīdēns, from strīdēre to make a grating sound

Example Sentences

Instead of being strident or prescriptive or obvious, Scenes declines hand-holding duties as the audience processes its discomfort.

From Time

Star players have grown more strident in dictating their situations, and in some cases teams have stumbled in response.

From Washington Post

The opposition to this has been particularly strident from the British pub sector, which is in the midst of a slow return to normal operations.

From Quartz

I think what she doesn’t seem to understand is that all of this strident waving around of guns doesn’t make the people around you feel safe about the idea of you being heavily armed in their presence.

From Washington Post

I appreciated Ari’ strident voice and his willingness to speak up for others.

From Washington Blade

Then the beat kicks in, followed shortly thereafter by strident vocals.

From The Daily Beast

But for whatever reason, his postings about Islam became increasingly strident.

From The Daily Beast

Wolf also has campaigned as a strident opponent of Obamacare and touted his medical expertise in doing so.

From The Daily Beast

As Schaeffer grew more strident and political, his son was his right-hand man.

From The Daily Beast

Phyllis is a short, stocky, enraged-seeming woman with a high, strident voice and piercing stare.

From The Daily Beast

A strident voice drowned the scandal, and an admiring group ceased smoking and listened spellbound to a characteristic anecdote.

From Project Gutenberg

At Healys, under the strident elevated station, a few guests were entering the blazing dining-rooms, laughing and expectant.

From Project Gutenberg

There was something strident in her voice, as if she pleaded for strength to break the web of years.

From Project Gutenberg

His wife had naturally a strident one, but she essayed to follow him in the matter of voice, as in all other things.

From Project Gutenberg

Her thoughts were cut off suddenly by a strident voice in Houston's ear.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• blatant
• jarring
• loud
• raucous
• vociferous