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
A lock of banshee hair that sang them to sleep whenever the moon was full.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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
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
No, really: To that end, Mercedes-Benz likens this — seriously — to how the Na’vi physically connect with their banshees in the 2009 movie Avatar.
From The Verge ● Jan. 7, 2020
One, two, three —” The Cool Dads wince; the girls scream like banshees.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 20, 2015
The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
