screech
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A high-pitched strident or piercing sound, such as that between a moving object and any surface.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skreechIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskɹitʃ
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.
noun
countable
A high-pitched strident or piercing sound, such as that between a moving object and any surface.
countable
A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream.
uncountable
A form of home-made rye whiskey made from used oak rye barrels from a distillery.
verb
To make such a sound.
intransitivefiguratively
To travel very fast, as if making the sound of a car that is driving too fast.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A high-pitched strident or piercing sound, such as that between a moving object and any surface.
Used this way, screech 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
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A high-pitched noise resembling a human cry.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any owl that has a screeching cry.
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.