earsplitting

[ eer-split-ing ]

See synonyms for earsplitting on Thesaurus.com

adjective

ear-piercing: an earsplitting explosion.

Origin of earsplitting

First recorded in 1880–85; ear¹ + splitting

Words Nearby earsplitting

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use earsplitting in a sentence

As I stepped into the main building that housed Unit C, an earsplitting siren blared suddenly and a dozen strobes flashed.
Inside a Hospital for the Criminally Insane | Caitlin Dickson | September 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
An earsplitting crack was followed by a mosquito-like voice singing in the wilderness.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, October 31, 1917 | Various
This earsplitting racket continued, he says, without interruption for two days.
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Arthur Train
Above the earsplitting thunder of the eruption he heard shrill cries and raucous shoutings.
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Arthur Train
The automatic radiation safety equipment filled the ship with an earsplitting buzz of warning.
Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet | Harold Leland Goodwin

They were halfway out on the reef when the plane leveled out of its dive with an earsplitting whine.
Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X | Victor Appleton

British Dictionary definitions for ear-splitting

ear-splitting

adjective

so loud or shrill as to hurt the ears

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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