din
noun
a loud, confused noise; a continued loud or tumultuous sound; noisy clamor.
din
1 American
[din]
/ dɪn /
noun
verb (used with object)
-
dins,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dinned,
past participle, past
-
dinning
present participle
-
to assail with din.
-
to sound or utter with clamor or persistent repetition.
verb (used without object)
-
dins,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dinned,
past participle, past
-
dinning
present participle
din
2
American
[din, deen]
/ dɪn, din /
Also
deen
noun
(used with a plural verb)
DIN
3
American
abbreviation
Photography.
Din.
4
American
abbreviation
din
1
British
/ dɪn /
noun
verb
-
to instil (into a person) by constant repetition
-
(tr) to subject to a din
-
(intr) to make a din
DIN
2
British
/ dɪn /
noun
-
a formerly used logarithmic expression of the speed of a photographic film, plate, etc, given as –10log 10 E, where E is the exposure of a point 0.1 density units above the fog level; high-speed films have high numbers Compare ISO rating
-
a system of standard plugs, sockets, and cables formerly used for interconnecting domestic audio and video equipment
din
3
British
/ dɪn /
noun
-
a particular religious law; the halacha about something
-
the ruling of a Beth Din or religious court
Din.
4
British
abbreviation
din
5
British
/ diːn /
noun
Synonym Usage
See noise.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dinsimple
-
dinssimple
-
have dinnedperfect
-
has dinnedperfect
-
am dinningprogressive
-
are dinningprogressive
-
is dinningprogressive
-
have been dinningperfect progressive
-
has been dinningperfect progressive
Past
-
dinnedsimple
-
had dinnedperfect
-
was dinningprogressive
-
were dinningprogressive
-
had been dinningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of din1
First recorded before 900; Middle English din(e) (noun), Old English dyne, dynn; cognate with Old Norse dynr “noise,” Old High German tuni, Sanskrit dhuni “roaring”
Origin of din2
From Arabic dīn “religion,” from Persian dēn
Origin of DIN3
First recorded in 1930–35; from German D(eutsche) I(ndustrie) N(ormen) “German industrial standards” (later construed as Das ist Norm “that is (the) standard”), registered mark of the German Institute for Standardization
Explanation
Walk into the average school cafeteria at lunchtime, and you'll get a good sense of what a din is — loud, confused, continuous, generally unpleasant, and often potentially headache-inducing noise. Who knew noise pollution was a problem in ancient times? Humans have been experiencing loud, sustained, annoying sounds for centuries, judging by the etymology of the word din. It traces its roots back to Old English dyne or dynn, which had the same meaning as din does today, only with a different pronunciation. Before that, it popped up in Old Norse as dynr and meant to "come rumbling down" — fitting, from the language that gave us Thor, the God of Thunder.
Vocabulary lists containing din
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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A Long Walk to Water
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Beowulf
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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:
It was hard to hear above the din.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
"I love this job, I fell in love with it the first time I came up here," she declares above the din of excavators working round the clock.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
Wearing helmets and ponchos, the protesters, many of whom waved rainbow-colored Indigenous flags, marched toward the city center to the din of firecrackers.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
Across Silicon Valley, work is being remade as once mellow spaces become dens of din.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
“Does that sound like strength to you?” he asks, dropping his hand and letting Celia’s voice blend into the din of the crowd.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
If you're short selling stocks, fractal is much less optimistic about DIN and other dining stocks.
From US News ● Aug. 29, 2016
Blizzard Binding: Based on proven Marker components and technologies, with a DIN range of 4 to 12.
From Time Magazine Archive
A typical setting for recreational skiers is 7; most Atomic racers ski with a DIN around 16.
From Time Magazine Archive
In dollars, the DIN 8-11 category increased 11%, DIN 12-14 slid 1% and juniors shot up 18%.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Cassette Recorder Jumper Cable has 5-pin audio DIN connectors on both ends.
From Radio Shack TRS-80 Expansion Interface: Operator's Manual Catalog Numbers: 26-1140, 26-1141, 26-1142 by Anonymous
Omits Din. by mistake and prints enjury for enjoy. p.
From The Little French Lawyer A Comedy by Francis Beaumont
Through Le Bas, the young Louis' Jacobin tutor, he dins it in that the boy had no chance to develop normally.
From Time Magazine Archive
The multitude of dins is largely devoted, of course, to love, and mostly in songs that court, exhort or contort.
From Time Magazine Archive
The ravening kite so swoops and plunders, when Hovering above the shelterd yard, she spies A helpless chicken near unwatchful hen, Who vainly dins the thief with after cries.
From Orlando Furioso by William Stewart Rose
After quiet had been restored, the Society of Saint-vincent de Paul cordially thanked Jasmin through the mouth of their President; and presented him with a magnificent golden circlet, with this inscription: "La Caritat dins Bourdeau!"
From Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist by Samuel Smiles
The river gurgles like his throat, In little choking coves, And loudly dins that phantom note From out the awful groves.
From Rolling Stones by O. Henry
I’ve been oppressed by all these facts and evidence that dinned against My simple claim that I am not more sinning than I’m sinned against.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 7, 2021
A music strike, unlike a coal strike, caused little or no public suffering; in fact it hardly diluted the endless flow of recorded sound which dinned daily in the nation's ears.
From Time Magazine Archive
A tormenting question dinned last week in the brain of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss: "Where will my wife and the children be safe?"
From Time Magazine Archive
Starting from that, Dr. Laing sees the schizophrenic as an individual who has had trouble fitting into the social concepts dinned into him from infancy.
From Time Magazine Archive
The metal walls dinned back the clangor of his steps.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Guests enter through a private side door and they’re met with a somewhat full-sized kitchen and dinning room.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 13, 2021
In June, we dragged the tables outside and set up the planter boxes for outdoor dinning.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2020
The house had an unfinished quality, and chickens strutted through the dinning room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2019
My husband and I were married in the garden and had a reception in an upstairs dinning room in 1994.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2018
And then a great thudding and bumping, like huge rams dinning on the ground.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
