clamor

¹ American  

[klam-er] / ˈklæm ər /

especially British, clamour

noun

• clamors
  plural

1. 

   a loud uproar, as from a crowd of people.

   the clamor of the crowd at the gates.

2. a vehement expression of desire or dissatisfaction.

   the clamor of the proponents of the law.

   Synonyms:

   vociferation

3. popular outcry.

   The senators could not ignore the clamor against higher taxation.

4. any loud and continued noise: the clamor of birds and animals in the zoo.

   the clamor of traffic;

   the clamor of birds and animals in the zoo.

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verb (used without object)

1. to make a clamor; raise an outcry.

verb (used with object)

1. to drive, force, influence, etc., by clamoring.

   The newspapers clamored him out of office.

2. to utter noisily.

   They clamored their demands at the meeting.

clamor ² American  

[klam-er] / ˈklæm ər /

verb (used with object)

Obsolete.

1. to silence.

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Spelling

See -or.

Synonym Usage

See noise.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• clamorer
  noun
• clamorist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clamors
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of clamor¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English clamor (from Anglo-French ), from Latin, equivalent to clām- ( see claim) + -or -or ¹; Middle English clamour, from Middle French, from Latin clāmōr- (stem of clāmor )

Origin of clamor²

First recorded in 1605–15; perhaps spelling variant of clammer, obsolete variant of clamber in sense “to clutch,” hence “reduce to silence”

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Explanation

To clamor is to make a demand — LOUDLY. It's usually a group that clamors — like Americans might clamor for comprehensive health care coverage. The noun clamor is often used specifically to describe a noisy outcry from a group of people, but more generally, the word means any loud, harsh sound. You could describe the clamor of sirens in the night or the clamor of the approaching subway in the tunnel.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clamor clamors

More airlines are looking to add the SpaceX-owned satellite internet to their fleets as passengers clamor for fast and reliable wifi/

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Some airlines are chomping at the bit to link up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, as passengers clamor for access to quick and reliable in-flight wifi.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

The clamor for large transactions faded, with the third quarter producing just six megadeals—deals valued at $10 billion or more—compared with 19 in the second quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

The clamor of visiting children echoes outside the concrete structure while music plays deeper within the campus where couples ballroom dance in the sun.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

Nhamo fled past more houses, where other dogs set up a clamor.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Here is a closer look at what is known about the incident, the records and what is being done to make them public as a grieving community clamors for more information.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 2, 2022

In this season of our discontent, the scene in which Richard cynically holds up a Bible as a ginned-up crowd clamors to make him king is one you may find familiar.

From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2022

Though the company still clamors for government funding and sometimes makes bold predictions it doesn’t actually see through, SpaceX continues to defy expectations with each new accomplishment.

From The Verge ● Nov. 1, 2021

“Everyone in the industry clamors to get inside that ballroom for the Golden Globes,” said one longtime publicist who was not authorized to comment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2021

Before long the clamors will be renewed in a different tone; and we shall see the reproduction in the Archipelago, with more or less cruelty, of that historical period in the Peninsula of 1834–1840.

From The Friars in the Philippines by Ambrose Coleman

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Related Words

• agitation
• brouhaha
• buzz
• ferment
• hubbub
• noise
• outcry
• ruckus
• tumult
• upheaval
• uproar

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