guttural
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to the throat.
-
harsh; throaty.
-
Phonetics. pertaining to or characterized by a sound articulated in the back of the mouth, as the non-English velar fricative sound
noun
adjective
-
anatomy of or relating to the throat
-
phonetics pronounced in the throat or the back of the mouth; velar or uvular
-
raucous
noun
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
Explanation
Guttural describes a hoarse sound made in the back of the throat. Your friend's voice might get low and guttural just before he bursts into tears. Growls and cries are often described as guttural. The Latin word guttur, "throat or gullet," is the root of guttural. That's why sounds that are deep and croaked as if they come from the back of your throat are guttural. In linguistics, speech sounds that start in the throat, like the consonants k and g, are called guttural consonants, and there are even guttural languages which contain many guttural sounds.
Vocabulary lists containing guttural
The Devil's Arithmetic
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The Girl Who Drank the Moon
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Twelve Years a Slave
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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.
Ibrox contorted itself as the goalkeeper performed heroics and then the place let out a guttural groan as Hatate made it third time lucky.
From BBC • Mar. 1, 2026
Zhao has been signaling this moment from the start of the film, and when Hamnet’s bright, earnest voice is replaced by Buckley’s full-bodied, guttural wail, it’s nearly impossible to stay stone-faced.
From Salon • Nov. 30, 2025
He had this guttural, old-guy Boston Irish laugh.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 4, 2025
On this tour, it’s a really good mixture: Full of Hell’s grindcore, Fulci is guttural gore death metal, Municipal Waste is crossover, and we’re old-school death metal.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025
All the creature’s unease had vanished: he gave a guttural burr in his throat, a turbine of delight.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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.
