strident
making or having a harsh sound; grating; creaking: strident insects; strident hinges.
having a shrill, irritating quality or character: a strident tone in his writings.
Linguistics. (in distinctive feature analysis) characterized acoustically by noise of relatively high intensity, as sibilants, labiodental and uvular fricatives, and most affricates.
Origin of strident
1Other words from strident
- stridence, stri·den·cy, noun
- stri·dent·ly, adverb
- non·stri·dent, adjective
- o·ver·stri·dence, noun
- o·ver·stri·den·cy, noun
- o·ver·stri·dent, adjective
- o·ver·stri·dent·ly, adverb
- un·stri·dent, adjective
- un·stri·dent·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use strident in a sentence
But the stridency of these novels is not the most complex or surprising shift in contemporary recession literature.
Voices and laughter came very softly to his ears above the distant stridency of traffic.
Three Soldiers | John Dos PassosJesse's wretched gun slammed again, a different sound, a spattering clang, followed by the stridency of Jesse cursing and weeping.
Wilderness of Spring | Edgar PangbornAs a rule this subject moves the Dean to stridency; but the heavy magnificence of Castle Affey crushed him into a kind of whisper.
The Red Hand of Ulster | George A. BirminghamIts stridency and the tang of fresh sawdust strike sharp across the air fragrant with fern.
The Joys of Being a Woman | Winifred Kirkland
Just as a mere bit of physical stimulus the crescendoish stridency of the speech roused Barton to a lazy smile.
Little Eve Edgarton | Eleanor Hallowell Abbott
British Dictionary definitions for strident
/ (ˈstraɪdənt) /
(of a shout, voice, etc) having or making a loud or harsh sound
urgent, clamorous, or vociferous: strident demands
Origin of strident
1Derived forms of strident
- stridence or stridency, noun
- stridently, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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