Definitions for shrill

• Definition
• Anagrams (49)

shrill shrill

Spelling: [shril]

IPA: /ʃrɪl/

Shrill is a 6 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 9 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 10 points.

You can make 49 anagrams from letters in shrill (hillrs).

Definitions for shrill

noun

1. a shrill sound.

adverb

1. in a shrill manner; shrilly.

adjective

1. high-pitched and piercing in sound quality:
2. producing such a sound.
3. full of or characterized by such a sound:
4. betraying some strong emotion or attitude in an exaggerated amount, as antagonism or defensiveness.
5. marked by great intensity; keen:

verb (used with or without object)

1. to cry shrilly.

Origin of shrill

1300-50; Middle English shrille (adj., v.); akin to Old English scrallettan to sound loudly; cognate with German schrill (adj.), schrillen (v.); compare Old Norse skrīll rabble

Examples for shrill

Behind a chorus of shrill insects, the pops of gunfire can sometimes be heard in the distance.

There was a sharp, shrill cry from the boy, and Dozier whirled on him.

Camille gave a shrill laugh, so funny did the idea appear to her.

So saying, he put his fingers to his lips and blew a shrill whistle.

Wat's voice was shrill in the land, yelling, exhorting, screaming.

“When I was doing press for Whitney, critics were commenting on my appearance, saying I was shrill, saying I was needy,” she says.

But the new voice was stilled into nothingness by the shrill, reawakening falsetto.

We're so used to seeing in sitcoms the same relationship: the naggy, shrill wife who's constantly bickering with her husband.

Her voice was shrill with disbelief and choked with grief as she spoke to someone on her cell phone in Fujianese.

The noise in the stadium grew for every point he won, but the points he lost were greeted with shrill, desperate screams.