guttural

American  

[guht-er-uhl] / ˈgʌt ər əl /

adjective

1. of or relating to the throat.

2. harsh; throaty.

3. Phonetics. pertaining to or characterized by a sound articulated in the back of the mouth, as the non-English velar fricative sound

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noun

1. a guttural sound.

guttural British  

/ ˈɡʌtərəl /

adjective

1. anatomy of or relating to the throat

2. phonetics pronounced in the throat or the back of the mouth; velar or uvular

3. raucous

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noun

1. phonetics a guttural consonant

Other Word Forms

• gutturalism noun
• gutturality noun
• gutturally adverb
• gutturalness noun
• nonguttural adjective
• nongutturally adverb
• nongutturalness noun
• unguttural adjective
• ungutturally adverb
• ungutturalness noun

Etymology

Origin of guttural

1585–95; < New Latin gutturālis of the throat, equivalent to Latin guttur gullet, throat + -ālis -al ¹

Example Sentences

Raspy grunts, high-pitched mews, guttural barks and the occasional roar bellowed toward my group of hikers at Año Nuevo State Park, a remote strip of coastal bluffs about 60 miles south of San Francisco.

From New York Times

Dressed all in black — note the reaper resemblance — Newton raised both arms into the air, turned and belted a guttural growl.

From Seattle Times

The sheep were offering a symphony of guttural bleats punctuated with hollow tongs from bells dangling round their necks as Mr. Rogers and the dogs directed them toward a noonday water break.

From New York Times

The last two sounds were a guttural growl they made when defending their food or when someone was too close, and a high-pitched loud scream during fights.

From Science Magazine

A country commits suicide as a modern, functioning society not with a bang, but with a million whimpers, shrieks of rage, howls of xenophobia, guttural snarls of nationalism.

From Salon