Shriek Meaning
/ʃɹiːk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA sharp, shrill outcry or scream; a shrill wild cry caused by sudden or extreme terror, pain, or the like.
nounAn exclamation mark.
Sentence Examples
"Murder!", screamed the poor woman in a loud shriek.
The woman let out such a loud shriek that the house shook.
She tickled her and she let out an involuntary shriek.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I heard the victim suddenly ____ in terror as the attacker approached.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden, loud ____ from the dark hallway startled everyone in the room and made our hearts race.
Word Origin & History
From obsolete shrick (1567), shreke, variants of earlier screak, skricke (before 1500), from Middle English scrycke, from a North Germanic/Scandinavian language (compare Swedish skrika, Danish skrige, Icelandic skríkja), from Proto-Germanic *skrīkijaną, *skrik- (compare English screech). More at screech.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Shrieks, clamours, murmurs, fill the frighted town."
— 1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish thing, for could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had she but quietly leaped without that loud shriek?"
— 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, June 1914, →OCLC:
"Feebly ſhe ſhriekt, but ſo feebly indeed / That Britomart heard not the ſhrilling ſound."
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 95:
"It was the owl that shrieked."
— c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
"At this she shriek'd aloud; the mournful train / Echoed her grief."
— 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I heard the victim suddenly ____ in terror as the attacker approached.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden, loud ____ from the dark hallway startled everyone in the room and made our hearts race.