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.
-
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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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.
All Norma Tactacon can do is pray as the sirens blare.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
The noise is deafening: Horns blare, whistles pierce the piercing cold.
From Slate • Feb. 11, 2026
Mexico’s culture, he wanted to blare, was born long ago.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 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
Downstairs, the stone elephant began to blare its warning siren.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
