harrumph
Americanverb (used without object)
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to clear the throat audibly in a self-important manner.
The professor harrumphed good-naturedly.
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to express oneself gruffly.
verb
Etymology
Origin of harrumph
First recorded in 1935–40; imitative
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.
"Trousers," exclaims the Prince Andrew character, with a fruity harrumph, as though taken aback by a female interviewer wearing trousers.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2024
Discreet to the point of evasive, they have tended to greet press inquiries with silence, or with expressions of sorrow that some observers might damn them as profligates, or with a harrumph of how-did-you-get-this-number disgruntlement.
From The New Yorker • Jun. 14, 2019
It’s part of the game, and for Murphy to harrumph about it bespeaks a degree of ignorance or arrogance fully deserving of the Europeans’ derision and scorn.
From Slate • Jun. 10, 2019
Scalia’ll reprove ya With some jurisprudential effluvia, Then, with scowling harrumph And a baleful galumph, He’ll trudge homeward to Antediluvia.
From Washington Post • Sep. 9, 2015
“As I am Lord of these elevator shafts, that should really be expected, shouldn’t it?” replies Lord Kensington with a harrumph.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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.
