shrill

CEFRB2

/ʃɹɪl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    High-pitched and unpleasant to hear.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Having a shrill voice.

Examples

  • All at once, I heard a shrill cry.

  • The child's shout was indeed shrill.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Sharp or keen to the senses.

  2. High-pitched and piercing.

  3. Especially of a woman: fierce, loud, strident.

More examples

In context

  • The woods rang with shrill cries of the birds.

  • Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high, / I fear not wave nor wind; / Yet marvel not, Sir Childe, that I / Am sorrowful in mind; […]

  • [W]hen at laſt / I heard a voyce, which loudly to me called, / That with ſuddein ſhrill I was appalled.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The fire alarm emitted a blank noise that bothered everyone in the building.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Late Middle English schrille, shirle, shrille (“of a sound: high-pitched, piercing; producing such a sound”), possibly from the earlier shil, schille (“loud, resounding; high-pitched”), from Old English sċill (“sonorous sounding”), of Germanic origin and probably ultimately imitative. The r in the word was introduced by analogy to Middle English skrīke, skrīken, scrēmen, possibly to avoid confusion with non-Anglian forms of schelle (modern English shell) where Old English sċill (“sonorous sounding”) and sċill (“shell”) existed. The word is cognate with Icelandic skella (“crash, bang, slam”), Low German schrell (“sharp in taste or tone”).