banshee
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of banshee
First recorded in 1765–75; from Irish bean sídhe “woman of a fairy mound”; bean “woman” (from Old Irish ben; see also queen) + sídhe “of a fairy mound” (from Old Irish síde, genitive of síd “fairy mound”; cf. sídh)
Explanation
A banshee is a mythological creature that appears in Irish folklore and fairy tales. Banshees are female spirits that supposedly wail just before a family member dies. Have you ever heard the phrase "scream like a banshee?" Sometimes people say this when a child is shrieking or a stranger yells loudly. In Irish mythology, a banshee was a type of fairy who would keen, or wail with grief, to mark a person's impending death. If you lived in Ireland long ago and heard three spine-chilling cries in the night, you might think it was a wild animal...or maybe a banshee.
Vocabulary lists containing banshee
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Speak
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The Cardboard Kingdom
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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:
When he heard the news he says he “wailed like a banshee for 20 minutes”.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2024
At the same time, he continues to throw himself a great pity party, wraps himself in his solipsistic view of victimhood, wailing like a banshee and gnashing his teeth in anger.
From Salon ● May 30, 2024
At times sweet naif, at times screaming banshee, she seems not quite human, like the strange half-duck/half-dog creature that follows her around the scientist’s house.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
Your banshee will be ready to take off Thursday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
An’ bangin’ on about some banshee he banished.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
During a challenge, the contestants - including Alan Carr, Celia Imrie and Lucy Beaumont - were tasked with asking a group of banshees to sing, before relaying the songs down a well.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2025
Both center on one of the genre’s most reliable tropes: mothers who either turn into monsters or have been banshees from hell from the very beginning.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2023
For example, the studio felt that the film should be shorter and that there was too much flying around on the ikran — what the humans call the banshees.
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2022
This is a ghost ship, a skeleton crew drifting through the doldrums, encircled by YouTube banshees wailing into the night.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 25, 2020
“It totally is,” I say, imagining screeching banshees circling overhead and grinning ogres waiting in the shadows to snatch us up.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
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.
