blare
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a loud, raucous noise.
The blare of the band made conversation impossible.
-
glaring intensity of light or color.
A blare of sunlight flooded the room as she opened the shutters.
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fanfare; flourish; ostentation; flamboyance.
a new breakfast cereal proclaimed with all the blare of a Hollywood spectacle.
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Eastern New England. the bawl of a calf.
verb
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to sound loudly and harshly
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to proclaim loudly and sensationally
noun
Etymology
Origin of blare
1400–50; late Middle English bleren; akin to Middle Dutch blaren, Middle Low German blarren, Middle High German blerren ( German plärren )
Explanation
To blare means to crank up the volume — really LOUDly. Blare is what you do with your dance music if you want your neighbors to hate you. The verb blare has ties to the Middle Dutch word bleren, meaning "to bleat, cry, bawl, shout." Blare describes a loud, harsh, unpleasant sound, something you associate with car horns on a busy city street at rush hour, sirens on a police car, or even music played at an unnecessarily high volume. A club is allowed to blare its dance music. But if you blare music at home? Your neighbors would probably consider that too loud.
Vocabulary lists containing blare
The Diary of Anne Frank
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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The Poet X
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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.
Guy Berman, a 28-year-old Israeli student, waited out the blare of air-raid sirens before boarding a recent flight to Cyprus.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
The noise is deafening: Horns blare, whistles pierce the piercing cold.
From Slate • Feb. 11, 2026
The implied message may as well be a reveille blare: Nothing so minor should get in the way of anyone’s aspirations to serve their country.
From Salon • Oct. 10, 2025
Voices echo through the vast, concrete space and a cacophony of drills and electric lifts beep, buzz and blare.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2025
The blare of trumpets and the rat-a-tat of snare drums surround them.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
