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:
People near the airport said they heard multiple loud bangs and saw smoke rising from the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Nor is it loud and dry like that of a severely under-caffeinated customer who’s annoyed that the barista is holding up the line to chat with a regular.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Court documents said Mathewson always had loud music playing and did not let parents enter her home at drop-off time in an attempt to "conceal how oversubscribed she was".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
I think about that aspect later in the evening during “Star 69,” which from the outside seems like a simple rock ‘n’ roll song, very loud guitar matched by breathless, insistent loud vocals.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
“Toilets are out back,” he continued in a loud voice.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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 buzzing sound overhead got louder as we took cover under the bushes, before climbing back into the vehicle and driving away.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 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
The sound of a horn blaring gets louder with every step they take, but it’s not coming from the cars—it’s coming from the bathroom.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"But by far, the loudest feedback we heard was from people who were enthusiastic supporters of the category, fellow music creators expressing their encouragement for keeping it."
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
“If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
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
And then we launched into the fastest and loudest rendition of “Cielito Undo” anyone at Posada Middle School—and probably the world—had ever heard.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
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.
