Link Centre Dictionary

scream

UK/skɹiːm/ US/ˈskrim/ common informal

verb

1.

utter a sudden loud cry

  • “she cried with pain when the doctor inserted the needle”
  • “I yelled to her from the window but she couldn”
2.

utter or declare in a very loud voice

  • “You don”
Synonyms
3.

make a loud, piercing sound

  • “Fighter planes are screaming through the skies”

noun

1.

sharp piercing cry

  • “her screaming attracted the neighbors”
2.

a high-pitched noise resembling a human cry

  • “he ducked at the screechings of shells”
  • “he heard the scream of the brakes”

Origin

Inherited from Middle English scremen, borrowed from or cognate with Middle Dutch scremen (“to yell; shout”) and Old Norse skræma (“to terrify; scare”); compare West Flemish schreemen, Zealandic schreême (“to shout; yell; cry”), Swedish skrämma (“to spook; frighten”), Danish skræmme (“to scare”), West Frisian skrieme (“to weep”). Compare also Swedish skräna (“to yell; shout; howl”), Dutch schreien (“to cry; weep”), German schreien (“to scream”). Related to shriek, skrike.

Phrases

  • Howie scream
  • kicking and screaming
  • primal scream
  • scream bloody murder
  • scream blue murder
  • scream for
  • scream queen
  • screaming abdabs
  • screaming hairy armadillo
  • screaming jelly babies
  • screaming meemie
  • Wilhelm scream

Related words

See also

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.