loud
Americanadjective
-
louder,
comparative
-
loudest
superlative
-
(of sound) strongly audible; having exceptional volume or intensity.
loud talking;
loud thunder;
loud whispers.
- Synonyms:
- stentorian, resounding, earsplitting
- Antonyms:
- quiet
-
making, emitting, or uttering strongly audible sounds.
a quartet of loud trombones.
-
clamorous, vociferous, or blatant; noisy.
a loud party;
a loud demonstration.
-
emphatic or insistent.
to be loud in one's praises;
a loud denial.
-
garish, conspicuous, or ostentatious, as colors, dress, or the wearer of garish dress.
loud ties;
a loud dresser.
-
obtrusively vulgar, as manners or persons.
-
strong or offensive in smell.
adverb
idioms
adjective
-
(of sound) relatively great in volume
a loud shout
-
making or able to make sounds of relatively great volume
a loud voice
-
clamorous, insistent, and emphatic
loud protests
-
(of colours, designs, etc) offensive or obtrusive to look at
-
characterized by noisy, vulgar, and offensive behaviour
adverb
-
in a loud manner
-
audibly, as distinct from silently
Synonym Usage
Loud, noisy describe a strongly audible sound or sounds. Loud means characterized by a full, powerful sound or sounds, which make a strong impression on the organs of hearing: a loud voice, laugh, report. Noisy refers to a series of sounds, and suggests clamor and discordance, or persistence in making loud sounds that are disturbing and annoying: a noisy crowd.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of loud
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English hlūd; cognate with Old Frisian, Old Saxon hlūd ( Dutch luid ), Old High German hlūt ( German laut ); akin to Greek klytós “famous”
Explanation
The adjective loud describes a noise that has a very high volume, like loud music at a concert that kept your ears ringing even after you left. The word loud comes from the Old English word hlud, which means "making noise, sonorous."Loud is most often used to describe the volume level of music, but it can also refer to voices or other sounds that are unpleasant and high-volumed. Loud can also describe a tasteless or showy fashion choice, like a loud Hawaiian shirt paired with bright orange shorts.
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.
See Examples For:
AFP correspondents heard loud explosions in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Thursday evening, while the internationally recognised government's military said it had carried out strikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa, Saada and Taiz.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
“It was just so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think,” Garelick recalled about the feeling he knew he’d have to replicate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
"I assumed that it would be really loud, that it would cause a global uproar. I mean, it's a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal," he said - and he was right.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
I laughed out loud when I heard that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
We sit at the table, and Lou’s in the middle of serving us some sweet tea when we hear loud thumping from heavy footsteps outside the kitchen.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Meanwhile, the chorus of people who claim to have never heard the song grows louder every single day.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
My suffering was trying to tell me something, quietly at first, then louder, until I had to listen.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
The boos started late in the first half, with the Packers trailing 17-7, and got louder and more frequent as the game — and the team’s woes — continued.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Small pockets of travelling British supporters made themselves heard, while Garcia received a much louder but mixed reception.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
The rope yanked me off the ground, and I screamed louder than necessary, to attract the trolls.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Garry Tan, who runs the startup incubator Y Combinator, is among the loudest of those voices, casting safety-driven regulation as a threat to the small companies that cannot absorb its costs.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
It seems the loudest message of all that Albanians have for Rama is: We are not giving up.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Jahmell Campbell, 24, from London, said when his e-scooter caught fire "it was the loudest explosion I'd ever heard".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Ron spasms under his desk, stifled by the small space; a colleague dries a co-worker’s hair with a piece of paper after blowing bubbles in it; Ron does the loudest meal prep you’ll ever hear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
He was the biggest, toughest, loudest walrus in the herd.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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.
