roar
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Make a loud noise, as of wind, water.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rawrIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɔɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Make a loud noise, as of wind, water, or vehicles
Make a loud noise, as of animal
Of animals (especially a lion), to make a loud deep noise.
intransitive
To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion.
transitive
To cry aloud; to proclaim loudly.
To laugh in a particularly loud manner.
noun
A long, loud, deep shout, as of rage or laughter, made with the mouth wide open.
The sound made by a lion
The cry of the lion.
A deep prolonged loud noise
A loud resounding noise.
The deep cry of the bull.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Make a loud noise, as of wind, water, or vehicles
Used this way, roar is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use roar
- “Desperadoes from the hills regularly roared in to take over the town"-R.A.Billington.”verb
- “`Get out of here,' he roared.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.