yowl
Americanverb (used without object)
-
yowls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
yowled,
past participle, past
-
yowling
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
yowlsimple
-
yowlssimple
-
have yowledperfect
-
has yowledperfect
-
am yowlingprogressive
-
are yowlingprogressive
-
is yowlingprogressive
-
have been yowlingperfect progressive
-
has been yowlingperfect progressive
Past
-
yowledsimple
-
had yowledperfect
-
was yowlingprogressive
-
were yowlingprogressive
-
had been yowlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of yowl
1175–1225; Middle English yuhele, yule, youle, apparently from a cry of pain or distress yuhele; compare Old English geoh- (in geohthu grief )
Explanation
A yowl is a loud cry or howl, especially one that an animal makes. If you accidentally step on your cat's tail, you'll probably hear her yowl. Poor kitty. Use this imitative word as a noun or a verb, any time you're describing a wild cry of distress. Your new puppy may yowl all night long the first couple of times you make him sleep in a crate at the foot of your bed — and if his yowling goes on too long, you may find yourself starting to yowl along with him.
Vocabulary lists containing yowl
Into the Wild
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Yelping and Yowling: Synonyms for "Cry"
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Louisiana’s Way Home
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But they had connected him to a current of fury, and the urge to yowl for justice or revenge flooded his throat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
The cathartic yowl at the start of his debut solo single, “Crazy Train,” was telling: “All aboooooardd!”
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025
These dogs aren’t huge barkers, but they might yowl at you, especially if you aren’t getting the leash for a walk quickly enough.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2025
To communicate, they grunt and yowl and gesture with a serio-comic zeal that earned my reluctant admiration.
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
I didn’t see what happened next, but I heard a hiss and a yowl.
From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate
He had heard a tip from some former clients that the mournful yowls of lynx had been heard overnight near the public viewing area, so we reinstalled ourselves nearby on his secret mountain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026
“I feel like letting my freak flag fly,” Crosby yowls over dueling electric guitars in this beautifully scratchy declaration of weirdo pride.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2023
Robotnik, who also goes by the name Eggman, eggs them on with gleeful yowls.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
Actually, sometimes he yowls at 4AM because he doesn’t like eating alone, making us sit with him as he chows down on kibble.
From The Verge ● Dec. 24, 2021
I tell David about the fox I saw with a gray body and a red head, and he tells me about his aunt’s Siamese cat that yowls just for the pure joy of making noise.
From "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
She checked in with her sister, who once worked at an animal shelter, and learned that cats that yowled were either in distress, in heat or lost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2024
John Wall skipped and yowled at the end of practice Saturday.
From Washington Times ● May 14, 2017
During the ride, Grenoble periodically yowled in pain and complained about the handcuffs, at one point saying he couldn’t feel his hands.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2015
Westerberg and Stinson yowled their vocals like stray cats, and Foley crisply, deftly negotiated the rhythmic turns on "Merry Go Round."
From Chicago Tribune ● Jul. 5, 2011
The man yowled and jumped away from the bush, shaking his hand in pain as blood ran from a nasty scratch.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
“Good morning, babies!” she says with a Fozzie Bear voice, feeding chunks of Pup-peroni to two yowling huskies and a wiggly black lab.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
"It's three-tiered, with a nasal low register, a yowling, cutting middle range and a high register so startlingly clear it sounds like a falsetto," Pareles wrote in a 1987 concert review.
From Reuters ● May 24, 2023
Directed by Boyle and written by Craig Pearce, it celebrates the punk spirit of authenticity and exudes love for the Pistols’ yowling chaos.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2022
Then for the next four hours I heard a small boy crying, whimpering and yowling.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021
Even though I knew she was faking it, Abbey’s yowling still gave me goose bumps.
From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen
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.
