screech
Americanverb (used without object)
-
screeches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
screeched,
past participle, past
-
screeching
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
screeches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
screeched,
past participle, past
-
screeching
present participle
noun
-
screeches
plural
noun
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
See scream.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
screechsimple
-
screechessimple
-
have screechedperfect
-
has screechedperfect
-
am screechingprogressive
-
are screechingprogressive
-
is screechingprogressive
-
have been screechingperfect progressive
-
has been screechingperfect progressive
Past
-
screechedsimple
-
had screechedperfect
-
was screechingprogressive
-
were screechingprogressive
-
had been screechingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of screech
First recorded in 1550–60; variant of obsolete scritch “to scream”; akin to screak
Explanation
To screech is to make a piercing, high-pitched sound. It can also be the sound itself. Want to hear a screech? Take a little kid’s lollipop away. A screech is another word for a scream, shriek, or cry. It’s not fun to listen to. If a woman in a horror movie finds a bad guy in her closet, she’ll probably screech. If you surprise someone in the middle of the night, expect a screech. Things can also screech, like when a car screeches to a sudden stop at a red light.
Vocabulary lists containing screech
"The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry
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The Pigman
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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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:
Overhead, airplanes screech across a fat blue sky in a hurry to who knows where.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Seagull imitators compete for best screech at sixth European championship.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 27, 2026
In fact, any birder will tell you that the sky-rending screech that accompanies bald eagles in most media depictions actually belongs to a red-tailed hawk.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026
She heard the car suddenly screech and the vehicle head towards the nearby home Mr Ferns shared with his mother Phyliss, where it stopped.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2025
I heard another yelp and then a screech, a long wail that made my teeth chatter.
From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline
New York City residents live with an ambient soundtrack of emergency sirens, subway screeches and I’m-walking-here arguments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
As one locomotive screeches into the old El-Raml Station, commuters and visitors crane their necks out of giant windows at the historic neo-Venetian buildings overhead.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
A few distant screeches of brooms on cobblestone, that’s all.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
Calakmul Biosphere Reserve on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula—The mother bat screeches furiously as Rodrigo Medellín Legorreta grips her, a thumb under her chin to prevent her razor-sharp teeth from sinking into his gloved hand.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023
She screeches and jumps up and down in exasperation.
From "Dragons in a Bag" by Zetta Elliott
Through a glass skylight embedded in the sidewalk, I could see pedestrians rushing by on their way to work, while tires screeched in the car park above.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Transport across the island, which was already reeling from the worst economic crisis in memory, has screeched to a near halt as petrol pumps run dry.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
In the 1970s, she observed a stratification between groups of chimpanzees at a national park in Tanzania, with increasing aggression as males screeched and threw objects.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
On Thursday, mangled metal screeched as an excavator compacted the skeletons of former homes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
“Boo!” she screeched, jumping out from behind one of the potted trees that flanked the ballroom’s entrance.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Instead, wielding my noise-canceling earbuds, Odysseus-like, I plan to smother this screeching sound to preserve my sanity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The iconic TV character, created for the BBC's former Noel's House Party show in the 1990s, tricked and pranked celebrities, destroyed studio sets and only spoke by screeching his name.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
The kitchen sinks aren’t working, and the plumbing is simultaneously screeching and groaning.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
The pandemic brought Airbnb’s growth to a screeching halt in early 2020 and caused $1 billion in cancellations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
There are screeching sounds and thumping sounds, and then my dark box heaves itself up and I am thrown into the walls.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
