shriek
Americannoun
-
shrieks
plural
verb (used without object)
-
shrieks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shrieked,
past participle, past
-
shrieking
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
shrieks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shrieked,
past participle, past
-
shrieking
present participle
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See scream.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shrieksimple
-
shriekssimple
-
have shriekedperfect
-
has shriekedperfect
-
am shriekingprogressive
-
are shriekingprogressive
-
is shriekingprogressive
-
have been shriekingperfect progressive
-
has been shriekingperfect progressive
Past
-
shriekedsimple
-
had shriekedperfect
-
was shriekingprogressive
-
were shriekingprogressive
-
had been shriekingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shriek
First recorded in 1560–70; earlier shrick, northern variant of shritch (now dialect), Middle English schrichen, back formation from Old English scriccettan; akin to shrike
Explanation
A high-pitched, piercing cry is a shriek. A common response to finding a snake curled in the silverware drawer would be to shriek. You can shriek in fear, surprise, or even shriek with laughter. If the sound you make is high, sharp, and loud, it's a shriek. A teenager who sees her favorite movie star might shriek, "Look who it is!" And, little kids in an inflatable bouncy house will very likely shriek with delight. The word shriek sounds very much like what it means, and its Old Norse root skrækja, "to screech," may have originated for that very reason.
Vocabulary lists containing shriek
Instead of "Said": Words For Sad Speech
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"Charlotte's Web": Chapter One
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
As a group of men force their way past us, a sudden shriek of noise and gust of air stops Joshua in his tracks.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
She sang open-throated declarations, recited broken poetic verses, scatted with the authority of a jazz singer, moaned with bluesy intent, and occasionally let loose an unbridled shriek or giggle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
A shriek broke the dawn on the savannah, followed by more screeches and the rustle of branches: The wild Fongoli chimps were bidding each other good morning in the dry, scraggly Sahel.
From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026
Because pain itself is generated in the brain, not the body’s tissues, it can be wildly out of proportion to any physical damage, an amplifier that transforms a whisper into a distorted shriek.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2025
Whistling fireworks shriek across the sky, long tails of light streaking behind them like shooting stars.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Some routinely put on a show: NYC0318, a whale also seen by AFP on a recent outing, often charms whale watchers with sensational lunge-feeds, breaching the water and prompting shrieks of delight.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
There were shrieks of relief and whoops of disbelief, tears and fireworks and renditions of “Empire State of Mind” and “New York, New York.”
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
They finished a roughly $3,000 project to add french doors to their living room to create an office space insulated from the shrieks of their almost-2-year-old.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025
"Celia shrieks strangely," read one, while another said: "They repeat the wail."
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2025
“Where, where?” shrieks Amy, staring out at two tall posts with a crossbeam and some dangling chains.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Spectators shrieked when the sun vanished altogether and looked around with their glasses off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
The Bob Baker Marionettes knew their audience very well — the crowd shrieked along to the chorus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
"How do you think I feel?... He set me up," he shrieked.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2026
At the second smaller stage, dancers shrieked as confetti cannons fired simultaneously with a bass drop, glitter falling like shimmering rain.
From Barron's ● Nov. 23, 2025
She shrieked and ranted for a quarter of an hour, then deprived us of our noontime break in the open air that day.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Yet the lizard brain making you gawk is shrieking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
The second pilot meets their passengers’ fear with hysteria, shrieking, outburst—that pilot shames their passengers, saying, “I can’t do my job because of YOU.”
From Slate ● May 10, 2026
Meanwhile his sound team keeps turning up the volume to 12, delivering shrieking, insistent layers of audio effects that are more annoying than scary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
I’ll pause here for general gasping and shrieking, and murmurs of, “Wait, there’s a dividend?”
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
It opened on shrieking, rusted hinges, swinging inward.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
