loud
/laʊd
/adjective
1Producing or capable of producing much noise: they were kept awake by loud music his voice is loud and challenging...
- Harsh voices followed after the loud noise and Gabrielle quickly, fearfully pulled her shoes back on and unlocked her stall.
- Last week she stayed put in her room, while the clatter of spoons and dishes, the noise of loud music and the drone of air coolers from the ground floor below made her restless.
- A cranky old man who scolds children for making noise violates with his loud voice the very quietness he upholds.
Synonyms
noisy, blaring, booming, deafening, roaring, thunderous, thundering, tumultuous, clamorous, blasting, head-splitting, ear-splitting, ear-piercing, piercing;
cacophonous, harsh, raucous;
strident, resounding, reverberating, reverberant, carrying, clearly audible;
sonorous, deep, ringing, lusty, powerful, forceful, stentorian, full-throated;
rowdy;
Music forte, fortissimo
1.1Strong or emphatic in expression: there were loud protests from the lumber barons...
- Martina had been stereotyped as the tough one, sporty, strong and loud.
- If Peter were alive today, would I be so loud and insistent in demanding he step down?
- Safe to say we won't see that, although I'm sure there will be some very loud protests by both Parties in the near future.
Synonyms
vociferous, clamorous, insistent, vehement, emphatic, urgent, importunate, demanding
1.2Vulgarly obtrusive; flashy: a man in a loud checked suit...
- On it was a photograph of an older man dressed in a loud red plaid suit, gesturing with his thumb up.
- He's not loud and flashy, and he doesn't call a lot of attention to himself.
- I'm not saying children's entertainment has to be loud, flashy, and percussive - far from it.
Synonyms
garish, gaudy, flashy, bold, flamboyant, lurid, glaring, showy, ostentatious, obtrusive;
vulgar, tasteless
informal flash, naff, kitsch, tacky
adverb
With a great deal of volume: they shouted as loud as they could...
- Of course, it's not easy to tackle persistent offending, but authoritarianism will never work - no matter how loud our politicians shout.
- From now on we'll be shouting loud and clear on your behalf and demanding to know who these people are.
- No matter how loud he shouted no one seemed to hear him.
Phrases
loud and clear
out loud
Derivatives
louden
/ verb ...- A steady, loudening thumping was all the warning he had.
- Sound effects that would normally remain as background are loudened so evocatively that even temperatures are palpable.
- Morrison's voice stops and we are subjected to just the sound of the drums from the song and the loudening helicopters from the scene.
loudish
loudness
/ noun ...- Of course I didn't want to open my eyes and be confronted with that loudness so I pretended to stay asleep.
- Chris was speaking with theatrical loudness, so practically everybody on the coach could hear him talk.
- Given that, the loudness of the explosions was quite intense.
Origin
Old English hlūd, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch luid, German laut, from an Indo-European root meaning 'hear', shared by Greek kluein 'hear', klutos 'famous' and Latin cluere 'be famous'.