howler
Americannoun
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a person, animal, or thing that howls.
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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.
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a mistake, especially an embarrassing one in speech or writing, that evokes laughter; a very humorous mistake or a funny blunder.
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Informal. something that makes a piercing and often prolonged noise, as an alarm.
noun
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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
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informal a glaring mistake
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(formerly) a device that produces a loud tone in a telephone receiver to attract attention when the receiver is incorrectly replaced
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a person or thing that howls
Etymology
Origin of howler
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.
Lawyers often stretch the facts to make their case, but even so, this was quite the howler from U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
The home side rode their luck against in-form Villa, who hit the woodwork twice before Mohamed Salah scored his 250th goal for the club following a howler from Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
From Barron's ● Nov. 2, 2025
When one agent was pregnant and went on maternity leave, they brought a rattle made from the throat of a howler monkey for the baby to play with.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025
That’s the point of their famous howl, which can be heard for miles: It warns off other howler groups and prevents fighting over food resources.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2024
Breakfast was punctuated by the shrieks and cries of howler monkeys, hill mynahs and Moluccan cockatoos.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
