squawk
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a loud, harsh cry or sound.
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Informal. a loud, vehement complaint.
-
the black-crowned night heron. night heron
noun
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a loud raucous cry; screech
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informal a loud complaint or protest
verb
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to utter a squawk or with a squawk
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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
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have been squawkingperfect progressive
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has been squawkingperfect progressive
Past
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squawkedsimple
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had squawkedperfect
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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
The plane transmitted a 7700 squawk code - which are broadcast to tell air traffic control that there is an emergency and the aircraft needs priority handling.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 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
"You're enough to give the devil himself fits! Haven't I so muddled their brains they want to turn you loose? And you reward me with a royal squawk!"
From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
We also passed dense stands of thick-leaved yerba santa, California buckwheat, sugar bush and chilicothe vines and we were treated to the squawks of California scrub jays and a red-tail hawk flying overhead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 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
When the Vallon squawks the sappers get down on their knees and stomachs to identify the threat.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2023
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
Sometimes for a whole day they talked in sea lion grunts or frigate bird squawks or plankton wiggles.
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
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
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 rooster squawked, and in the distance you could hear Kingsolver’s flock of Icelandic sheep mumbling whatever it is that sheep need to tell each other.
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2022
The goslings smiled and squawked and flapped over to their parents, bonking into one another and tumbling across the ground.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Some customers have lambasted the bots on social media, while others prefer them to a garbled voice squawking from a speaker box.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 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
For her mother’s birthday on Nov. 12, Ramirez took her to Rosemead Boulevard to witness the unusual sundown spectacle of squawking parrots plunging into the trees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2024
“God took him in His two hands and threw him out there and got him all wet and told him he should stay put. And gulls are still squawking about it.”
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
