I. ˈlau̇d adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hlūd; akin to Old Saxon hlūd loud, Old High German hlūt loud, Old Norse hljōth silence, attention, hearing, Gothic hliuma ear, Latin cluēre to be named, be called, Greek klytos famous, Sanskrit śṛṇoti he hears
1.
a. : marked by intensity or volume of sound — opposed to soft
where ears are willing, talk tends to be loud and long — Aldous Huxley
loud and protracted singing — John Burroughs
b. : producing a loud sound
the marten was loud beside them — David Walker
2.
a. : clamorous , insistent : noisy , vehement , emphatic
giving loud lip service … as a means of drowning the voice of conscience — B.G.Gallagher
small but determinedly loud groups are mistaken for vast multitudes and are causing irreparable harm — M.R.Cohen
b. obsolete : evident , manifest , obvious — used chiefly of a lie
3. : obtrusive or offensive in appearance or smell : violating taste or propriety : flashy , noisome , obnoxious
came along in the loudest pinstripe suit in history — John O'Reilly
a loud fish smell which one night's hard rain hadn't even dented — Raymond Chandler
he was stout, loud , red, bluff, and free from any drawback of delicacy — Charles Dickens
4. : uttered with the normal speaking voice ; specifically : produced by vibration of the vocal cords
loud vowels
loud voiced consonants
— compare aloud , out loud
Synonyms:
loud , stentorian , earsplitting , hoarse , raucous , strident , and stertorous , all applying to sounds, agree in meaning great in volume or unpleasant in effect. loud suggests a volume above normal, sometimes suggesting vehemence or obtrusiveness
a loud cry
a loud blast on a trumpet
loud demands for reform
a loud and unpleasant person
stentorian , chiefly applying to voices, implies exceedingly great power and range
a stentorian voice, husky from much bawling of orders — F. Tennyson Jesse
a few words, rendered either completely inaudible or painfully stentorian according to the whim of the microphone — Times Literary Supplement
blowing his nose in stentorian tones — O.E.Rölvaag
earsplitting adds the idea of a physically oppressive loudness, especially shrillness, as of screams or shrieks
suddenly he trumpeted, an earsplitting sound in the close stall — W.V.T.Clark
an earsplitting cry of terror
hoarse implies harshness, huskiness, or roughness of tone, sometimes suggesting an accompanying or causal loudness
the hoarse growling of the mob — Kenneth Roberts
voice came to my ears … tense and hoarse with an overmastering rage — Jack London
the hoarse bellow of the bull whistle — American Guide Series: North Carolina
raucous implies a loud, harsh, grating tone, especially of voice, often implying rowdiness
the voices often become raucous or shrill and any proper dignity of the spirit suffers — W.R.Benét
music of the city, raucous, jazzy, witty, dramatic — Howard Hanson
women … gathering along the platform with thin, bright, raucous laughter — William Faulkner
the raucous vitality of a mining boomtown — Seth Agnew
strident adds to raucous the idea of a rasping, discordant but insistent quality, especially of voice
scurrying traffic whose strident voice mingles whistle blasts with the hollow clang of bell buoys and the screams of softly wheeling gulls — American Guide Series: New York City
a sort of a strident, metallic quality about her revealed in the high pitch of her voice — Claire Sterling & Max Ascoli
her vocal attack often sounds strident and explosive — Newsweek
stertorous , usually not applied to sounds made by the voice, suggests the loud snoring, or sounds like snoring made in breathing, especially when it is difficult, by persons or animals in sleep, in a coma, or with marked asthmatic difficulties
the stertorous breathing of the owl — Osbert Sitwell
the horse is trembling … its breathing stertorous like groaning — William Faulkner
II. adverb
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English loude, from Old English hlūde; akin to Old Saxon hlūdo loudly, Old High German hlūto; derivative from the root of English loud (I)
: with loud sound or offensive appearance, manner, or smell
who screams loudest … when the dinner consists of canned tuna fish — A.C.Spectorsky
Eskimo-tanned furs smell out loud , especially in a warm room — Newsweek