First recorded in 1595–1605
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As Stankiewicz attempted to utter another sentence, the train’s ear-piercing horn sounded.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
A certain portion of the fanbase do romanticise the ear-piercing sound of the engines from the 1990s and early 2000s.
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2025
Every match has felt like a home game for Morocco, whose passionate supporters greeted all the spells of possession by Spain and Portugal with ear-piercing whistles and jeers.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 11, 2022
And is “the sound of fear,” to quote from the script, really an ear-piercing scream?
From New York Times • Feb. 18, 2019
Then came an ear-piercing scream, like a thousand unoiled door hinges all swinging at the same time.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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.
