shrill

[ shril ]

/ ʃrɪl /

adjective, shrill·er, shrill·est.

high-pitched and piercing in sound quality: a shrill cry.

producing such a sound.

full of or characterized by such a sound: shrill music.

betraying some strong emotion or attitude in an exaggerated amount, as antagonism or defensiveness.

marked by great intensity; keen: the shrill, incandescent light of the exploding bomb.

verb (used with or without object)

to cry shrilly.

noun

a shrill sound.

adverb

in a shrill manner; shrilly.

Origin of shrill

1300–50; Middle English shrille (adj., v.); akin to Old English scrallettan to sound loudly; cognate with German schrill (adj.), schrillen (v.); compare Old Norse skrīll rabble

OTHER WORDS FROM shrill

shrill·ness, noun shril·ly, adverb out·shrill, verb (used with object) un·shrill, adjective

Words nearby shrill

shrieval, shrievalty, shrieve, shrift, shrike, shrill, shrimp, shrimp plant, shrimper, shrimpfish, shrine

Example sentences from the Web for shriller

His voice is now shriller, the sobbing more pathetic, and the words begin to garble as he swallows water.

Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq |Nathan Bradley Bethea |August 31, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
For her mother's and grandmother's voices rose up shrill and shriller, demanding what at all hijjis gazabo she'd got on her.

Strangers at Lisconnel |Barlow Jane
The rattle sounded sharper, shriller, more vibrant in the ears of the rousing sleeper.

Out of the Depths |Robert Ames Bennet
And with every step of the ascent the wind still blew the shriller, and the trees bent before the gusts like fishing-rods.

The Black Arrow |Robert Louis Stevenson

The sound of the voices came from there—one of them high, and thinner and shriller than the rest.

The Lost Prince |Frances Hodgson Burnett
But now Stannum notices a shriller accent, the accent of a sun that has lost its sex and is stricken with soft moon-sickness.

Melomaniacs |James Huneker

British Dictionary definitions for shriller

shrill

/ (ʃrɪl) /

adjective

sharp and high-pitched in quality

emitting a sharp high-pitched sound

verb

to utter (words, sounds, etc) in a shrill tone

(tr) rare to cause to produce a shrill sound

Derived forms of shrill

shrillness, noun shrilly, adverb

Word Origin for shrill

C14: probably from Old English scralletan; related to German schrill shrill, Dutch schrallen to shriek

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

shrill

adjective, shrill·er, shrill·est.

verb (used with or without object)

noun

adverb

Origin of shrill

OTHER WORDS FROM shrill

Words nearby shrill

Example sentences from the Web for shriller

British Dictionary definitions for shriller

adjective

verb

Derived forms of shrill

Word Origin for shrill

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

shrill

adjective, shrill·er, shrill·est.

verb (used with or without object)

noun

adverb

Origin of shrill

OTHER WORDS FROM shrill

Words nearby shrill

Words related to shriller

Example sentences from the Web for shriller

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []) .push({}); British Dictionary definitions for shriller

adjective

verb

Derived forms of shrill

Word Origin for shrill

British Dictionary definitions for shriller