squawk
Americanverb (used without object)
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squawks,
present (3rd person singular)
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squawked,
past participle, past
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squawking
present participle
verb (used with object)
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squawks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
squawked,
past participle, past
-
squawking
present participle
noun
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squawks
plural
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a loud, harsh cry or sound.
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Informal. a loud, vehement complaint.
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the black-crowned night heron. night heron
noun
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a loud raucous cry; screech
-
informal a loud complaint or protest
verb
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to utter a squawk or with a squawk
-
informal (intr) to complain loudly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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squawksimple
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squawkssimple
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have squawkedperfect
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has squawkedperfect
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am squawkingprogressive
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are squawkingprogressive
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is squawkingprogressive
-
have been squawkingperfect progressive
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has been squawkingperfect progressive
Past
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squawkedsimple
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had squawkedperfect
-
was squawkingprogressive
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were squawkingprogressive
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had been squawkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of squawk
Explanation
To squawk is to make a harsh screech, like the sound that a large bird might make. Your pet parrot might squawk until you give her treats to nibble on. The imitative word squawk first appeared in the 1800s, and around 1945, the term squawk box began to be used informally to mean "intercom or loudspeaker." Today, that term is primarily used by investors and brokers to mean "an intercom used to communicate stock deals." In addition to being the sound of an irritated bird, a squawk is also a complaint: "All he does is squawk about how hard his new job is."
Vocabulary lists containing squawk
Instead of "Said": Words That Sound Like What They Mean
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We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
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Unit 1, Words to Know
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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:
“Stay on That” is one of the slinkier numbers on the album, with rapidly strummed guitars and a wah-wah squawk that recalls Isaac Hayes’s “Theme From Shaft.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
But Mitchell is a team player, so in the end, Rapaport survives to squawk another day and probably complain about life’s unfairness over that evening’s pasta buffet.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2026
"It's Americans who are going to squawk," said Prof Hampson.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2025
It seems as if everything you’ve described about this class certification is just obviously correct, and I’m trying to figure out what the DOJ is going to squawk about.
From Slate ● Jul. 11, 2025
Then I thought I heard a squawk, and I started running after her.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
After hearing "some squawks", she found her parents and siblings.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
A laptop on the center console dings like a supermarket scanner every time license-plate readers attached to the truck capture another car’s tag—and the computer squawks when it spots a possible repo candidate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
Here, it’s called Stickipoo — and if its robotic squawks and light-saber glow appear on loan from George Lucas, that’s only fair.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2023
Each parrot has its own distinctive voice with changes in the frequency of its squawks.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 20, 2023
The radio crackles and squawks, interrupted now and then by a soothing French voice, then a wisp of violin and a quiet French horn.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Some of them squawked about the slush fund in ways that took me by surprise.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2026
Parrots and macaws that had outlived their owners squawked in a giant aviary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Molting peacocks squawked in the distance and a Pacific breeze whispered through the eucalyptus as flamingo keeper Liz Gibbons tidied her station at the San Francisco Zoo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2025
Instead, the backing track squawked for a second and then dead air filled the room, with nary a patriotic chord to be heard.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025
A great blue heron squawked at us for making too much noise and, indignant, took off from a nearby bank as we boarded my father’s boat.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
Now, the malodorous mess has led to legal squawking between the town and two of its residents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
Massry runs from the front of the store to the back, walkie-talkie on his waist squawking as employees request help at the registers.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2024
Dr Ben Beska, 33, from Newcastle, said he saw a group of magpies squawking in his garden on Saturday and went out to investigate when he spotted the fish lying in the grass.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2024
But only in the careful hands of scientists who don’t have Musk squawking “go faster!” over their shoulders.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2024
There are a bunch of catbirds in the yard, squawking the way they do at dusk.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
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.
