scream
Americanverb (used without object)
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screams,
present (3rd person singular)
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screamed,
past participle, past
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screaming
present participle
-
to utter a loud, sharp, piercing cry.
-
to emit a shrill, piercing sound.
The sirens and whistles screamed.
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to laugh immoderately or uncontrollably.
The comedian had the audience screaming.
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to shout or speak shrilly, especially with harsh or exaggerated words.
They screamed across the back fence.
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to play or sing in a high, loud, harsh manner.
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to be conspicuous or startling.
That red dress really screams.
verb (used with object)
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screams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
screamed,
past participle, past
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screaming
present participle
-
to utter with or as if with a loud, piercing cry.
His patience exhausted, he screamed the instructions to the class.
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to bring (oneself) to a specified condition by loud and shrill shouts or cries.
We screamed ourselves hoarse at the concert.
verb
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to utter or emit (a sharp piercing cry or similar sound or sounds), esp as of fear, pain, etc
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(intr) to laugh wildly
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(intr) to speak, shout, or behave in a wild or impassioned manner
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(tr) to bring (oneself) into a specified state by screaming
she screamed herself hoarse
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(intr) to be extremely conspicuous
these orange curtains scream, you need more restful colours in a bedroom
noun
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a sharp piercing cry or sound, esp one denoting fear or pain
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informal a person or thing that causes great amusement
Synonym Usage
Scream, shriek, screech apply to crying out in a loud, piercing way. To scream is to utter a loud, piercing cry, especially of pain, fear, anger, or excitement: to scream with terror. The word is used also for a little, barely audible cry given by one who is startled. Shriek usually refers to a sharper and briefer cry than scream; when caused by fear or pain, it is often indicative of more terror or distress; shriek is also used for shrill uncontrolled cries: to shriek with laughter. Screech emphasizes disagreeable shrillness and harshness, often with a connotation of lack of dignity: to screech approval at a rock concert.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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screamsimple
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screamssimple
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have screamedperfect
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has screamedperfect
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am screamingprogressive
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are screamingprogressive
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is screamingprogressive
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have been screamingperfect progressive
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has been screamingperfect progressive
Past
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screamedsimple
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had screamedperfect
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was screamingprogressive
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were screamingprogressive
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had been screamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scream
First recorded in 1150–1200; 1905–10 scream for def. 11; Middle English screamen (verb), (unattested) Old English scrǣman; akin to Old Norse skraumi “chatterbox, braggart,” skruma “to jabber”; sc- (for regular sh- as in Middle English shreame ) from obsolete scritch “to screech” ( see screech
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:
A party gone spectacularly wrong gets a laugh, a sinister figure at the window prompts a scream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
So on Friday, the headline will scream energy and the core will whisper calm.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
Yes, Sazan is covered in unexploded land mines, a feature that, like the waterlessness and lack of electricity, doesn’t scream “luxury tourist development.”
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Boingo Wireless, which made me scream in airplane seat 34F many times.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
I tried to scream, but the sound caught in my throat as my lungs gasped for air at the same time.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
The audience erupted with screams even before the show began, as the band broadcast their music videos on the O2 Arena's big screens, and the noise barely dipped for the next three hours.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
During the peak of the chaos, Veerappan heard screams every night from neighbors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
There's a ripple of laughter during We Can't Be Friends, meanwhile, when a tiny cluster of the audience screams over the "silence challenge", external that's become a meme during the tour's American leg.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
When Universal Studios began testing the ride with people on it, Toluca Lake residents were shocked by the screams.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
But before Chin can answer, Ms. Cherry drops the container and screams.
From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins
“FREE TICKETS,” screamed a text message sent out to people on a RNC donor list.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Grown-ups gave me positive attention when—as an actor—I failed, got sick, screamed and cried, killed, grieved and suffered,” she wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
As news of Pradhan's resignation broke, a visibly emotional Abhijeet Dipke, CJP's founder, screamed from the makeshift stage at Jantar Mantar: "We have done it."
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Related: ‘I’ve yelled, screamed and cried’: My mother gave $400K to online scammers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
They screamed like the roll of thunder up and away into the sky until they were nothing but a speck among the clouds.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
"There was screaming and hugging of total strangers and a lot of silence," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
On my boat, a packed, three-deck pleasure cruise otherwise populated by swimsuit-clad tourists and screaming infants, the story was much the same.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
"I looked at the size of it and I realised, that's not a dolphin. And so we just start screaming at the top of our lungs, just like 'shark, shark, shark'."
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
It’s equally possible they will start screaming that it’s turned the sport into Nintendo and is the end of fishing as we know it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Rowan could hear himself screaming with the others.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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.
