howler

[hou-ler]

See more synonyms for howler on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person, animal, or thing that howls.
Also called howler monkey. any large, prehensile-tailed tropical American monkey of the genus Alouatta, the males of which make a howling noise: some species are endangered.
a mistake, especially an embarrassing one in speech or writing, that evokes laughter; a very humorous mistake or a funny blunder.

Informal. something that makes a piercing and often prolonged noise, as an alarm.

Origin of howler

First recorded in 1790–1800; howl + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for howler

deception, defect, exaggeration, blunder, lapse, misstep, mistake, goof, fault, indiscretion, blooper, inaccuracy, error, gaffe, oversight, flaw, omission, miscue, glitch, misunderstanding

Examples from the Web for howler

Contemporary Examples of howler

His portrait of Izzy Yanay, a partner in the highly regarded Hudson Valley Foie Gras, is a howler.
A Three-Star Food Fight
Bob Spitz
March 12, 2009

Historical Examples of howler

You've no idea, Dick, what a howler and piler this storm is.
The Grammar School Boys Snowbound
H. Irving Hancock
But when winter comes, Howler and his friends get together and hunt in packs.
The Burgess Animal Book for Children
Thornton W. Burgess
He is the “Howler” and “the Ruddy One”, and rides a wild boar.
Indian Myth and Legend
Donald Alexander Mackenzie
But once in a long while there'll be a howler, and that's what the barometer is trying to tell us now.
Wings of the Wind
Credo Harris
The operator noticed that the connection was open and put on the howler.
Whispering Wires
Henry Leverage

British Dictionary definitions for howler

howler

noun

Also called: howler monkey any large New World monkey of the genus Alouatta, inhabiting tropical forests in South America and having a loud howling cry
informal a glaring mistake
British (formerly) a device that produces a loud tone in a telephone receiver to attract attention when the receiver is incorrectly replaced
a person or thing that howls

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

Word Origin and History for howler

1832, "animal that howls," agent noun from howl (v.). Meaning "glaring blunder, ridiculous mistake" is first recorded 1890.