- roar
- roar vb Roar, bellow, bluster, bawl, vociferate, clamor, howl, ululate are comparable when they mean to make a very loud and often a continuous or protracted noise. The same distinctions in implications and connotations are to be found in their nouns, all of which are identical in spelling with the corresponding verbs except vociferation and ululation.Roar implies such a heavy, hoarse, and prolonged sound as is made by the booming sea, by thunder that reverberates, by a lion, or by persons when they lose control (as in rage or in boisterous merriment){
far away guns roar— Woolf
}{the harsh north wind . . . roared in the piazzas— Osbert Sitwell
}{it's the same to her, whether we coo like turtledoves or roar like twenty lions— Meredith
}{his anecdotes sent the audience into roars of laugh- ter
}Bellow suggests the loud, hollow crying of a bull; by extension, it applies to sound that seems to reverberate loudly from a cavity or to come insistently from a distance{bellowing with hoarse merriment— Kenneth Robertsy}}
}{the bellow of crocodiles— Forester
}Bluster suggests not only the violence or turbulence of a windstorm but the lashing quality of its blasts{when autumn blusters and the orchard rocks— Browning
}It is applicable not only to violent weather but also to something (as loud boastful swaggering or empty but noisy threats or protests) that suggests such weather. The term in extended use often carries a connotation of useless or futile effort{do their work without bluster or ostentation— Walker
}{she expressed her opinion gently but firmly, while he blustered for a time and then gave in— Anderson
}Bawl is sometimes interchangeable with bellow, but typically it suggests less depth and resonance and more persistence{cattle bawling for water
}As applied to human utterance, bawl is more or less derogatory{despite all political bawls and bellows about . . . prices— Time
}Even when applied specifically to unrestrained weeping and wailing it tends to call up an unsympathetic image of dishevelment and disorder{collapsed in an armchair in the lobby and bawled . . . uncontrollably— Kahn
}Vociferate and vociferation, like bawl, imply loud and urgent human utterance, but they are far less derogatory, if derogatory at all, more adapted to writing than to speech, and more likely to suggest a reason (as rage or excitement), a call for help, or a protest, than mere temperament{an atmosphere of shrieks and moans; prayers vociferated like blasphemies— Conrad
}{the perpetual vociferation of inflammatory opinion— Sampsony
}Clamor implies, usually, loud noises in confusion; it may suggest a mingling of voices or sounds. The term can apply to loud sounds, whatever their source. As applied to human utterances, it commonly gains the suggestion of vehemence (as in insisting, urging, or protesting){half-starved men and women clamoring for food— Kenneth Roberts
}{Europe has begun to clamor for political disciplinarians to save her— Shaw
}{clamored their piteous prayer incessantly— Longfellow
}Howl often stresses such loudness and mournfulness as is characteristic of the protracted cry of dogs and wolves; it may be used not only of animals but also of persons or things that make doleful or agonized and often prolonged sounds{a legion of foul fiends . . . howled in my ears— Milton
}{howls of mingled rage and pain
}{the howling of the wind on a stormy night
}Especially when used of human utterance, howl may suggest not only the quality of the sound but the unrestrained character of the utterance or of its underlying emotion{he ... chortled at their errors, howled at their inconsistencies— Martin Gardner
}{howled at a brother for his low-down ways, his prowling, guzzling, sneak-thief days— Lindsay
}{from faint doubt to uneasy suspicion, from the stirring of resentment to the howl of outraged protest— Lewis & Maude
}Ululate and ululation are less common and more literary than howl, from which they differ chiefly in carrying less suggestion of unrestrained emotion and a stronger implication of wailing, often giving a hint of the peculiar rhythm of the sounds{ululating coyotes
}{an ululating baritone mushy with pumped-up pity— E. B. White
}{who uttered in public or in private such high-pitched notes of ululation— Swinburne
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
