screeching

[ skree-ching ]

/ ˈskri tʃɪŋ /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: screeching / screechings on Thesaurus.com

adjective

causing or uttering screeches: screeching bats.

characteristic of screeches; harshly shrill: a screeching tone.

noun

the act or sound of a person or thing that screeches.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of screeching

First recorded in 1610–20; screech + -ing², -ing¹

OTHER WORDS FROM screeching

screech·ing·ly, adverb

Words nearby screeching

screaming-meemies, screamo, scream therapy, scree, screech, screeching, screech owl, screechy, screed, screen, Screen Actors Guild

How to use screeching in a sentence

The year 2020 brought the global economy to a screeching halt, but it proved to be an astonishingly good year for India’s richest billionaire.
India’s richest man shifted his focus from fossil fuels to the internet in 2020|Niharika Sharma|January 6, 2021|Quartz
The booming e-scooter business came to a screeching halt in mid-March as the coronavirus crisis picked up steam across the globe.
Ford’s Spin unit to boost e-scooters with software that alerts pedestrians of sidewalk riders|Dalvin Brown|December 17, 2020|Washington Post
Even if doctors wanted to try a lung transplant on a Covid-19 patient, organ donation came to a screeching halt at the beginning of the US pandemic, and transplant rates plummeted across the board.
Demand for Covid-19 lung transplants is about to shoot up|Katherine Ellen Foley|October 16, 2020|Quartz
Everything I had worked so hard to build in New York City as a media personality came to a screeching halt.
The Anatomy Of A Breast Cancer Survivor: ‘Early Detection Saved My Life’|Charli Penn|October 6, 2020|Essence.com

Not only did our own daily routines come to a screeching halt, for many of us our professional lives did as well.
Publishers are paying closer attention to demographic shifts in their audiences|GeoEdge|June 30, 2020|Digiday
Lindsey Graham can barely get ISIS out of his mouth before blowing his shpadoinkle and screeching "we may all get killed!"
The Fear About Things That Won't Kill Us Is Killing Us|Cliff Schecter|October 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The force that inspires defiant videos and top-of-their-lungs screeching tweens is, in fact, a media-shy 43-year old Swedish… man.
Taylor Swift’s Secret Music Man: Max Martin, Elusive Hitmaker|Debra A. Klein|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In his screeching desperation, it sounds far more like “You can tell her what I wanted to be.”
The Stacks: The Judas Priest Teen Suicide Trial|Ivan Solotaroff|June 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The progress Whitmire and the committee was making came to a screeching halt when George W. Bush became governor in 1995.
Prison Reform is Bigger in Texas|Olivia Nuzzi|April 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Given a screeching demagogue and an evenhanded, mild-mannered technocrat, people will always be more drawn to the former.
America’s Epidemic of Psychiatric Over-Diagnosis|Jesse Singal|June 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
No screeching Indian was ever hit more fairly, surprised more suddenly, or extinguished more utterly.
The Young Ranchers|Edward S. Ellis
The others danced sideways into the darkness, screeching, as though I had done them an injury.
Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4)|Various
I could hear the shells screeching through the air a second before they burst near where I lay.
Private Peat|Harold R. Peat
Above the sound of the motor the screeching of the wounded bird still reached them faintly from the bottom of the cliff.
The Onslaught from Rigel|Fletcher Pratt
There seemed to be a great owl hooting from every hollow tree, and a little one screeching from every knothole.
Freckles|Gene Stratton-Porter