stentorian
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stentorian
Explanation
The adjective stentorian describes a booming voice. If you're teaching a group of unruly kids, you'll need to practice a stentorian voice to be heard above the din. The adjective stentorian comes from Greek mythology. Stentor was a herald in the Trojan War, mentioned in Homer's "Iliad." Homer wrote of brazen-voiced Stentor, whose cry was as loud as that of fifty men together. So anyone with a stentorian voice has a voice like the mythic Stentor. You can also use stentorian to describe a style of speaking that emphasizes boom and power.
Vocabulary lists containing stentorian
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Turn It Up! Synonyms for "Loud"
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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.
The movie projects contempt for the dense from its first frame, sharing a montage of recent pop culture as a stentorian narrator worries that modern conveniences have perverted the concept of survival of the fittest.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
It’s an assured, intelligent performance, if a touch too stentorian.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
But the graying signal caller still had something left in the glove compartment, and if you think I typed that while speaking in a stentorian John Facenda voice, I absolutely did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
This habitual stentorian announcement of what the high court will be deciding was once merely myopic, ignoring ethics violations and judicial behavior as it did.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2025
“Oh. I thought that the lady was in charge,” Ignatius said in his most stentorian voice, finding the man the only blight in the office.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
