- shout
- shout vb Shout, yell, shriek, scream, screech, squeal, holler, whoop are comparable when they mean as verbs to make or utter a loud and penetrating sound that tends or is intended to attract attention and, as nouns, a sound or utterance of this character. All, when used in reference to human utterance, can apply to either meaningful speech or inarticulate cries.Shout ordinarily implies vocal utterance in an energetically raised voice intended to carry a considerable distance or to rise above conflicting sound; in itself and apart from context the term carries no information about the emotional or meaning content or the tonal quality of the sound{
the peddlers . . . shout their wares with a cry which is like the howl of a wolf— Gardner
}{the geishas followed us, shouting insults in English, Japanese and pantomime— Mailer
}{the lusty yells of the brown-shirted masses or the shouts of the Fuehrer blaring from the loudspeakers— Shirer
}{the cuckoo shouts all day at nothing in leafy dells alone— Housman
}In its extended use shout stresses attention-gaining quality{the brassy, peremptory shout of the ship's siren sounded . . . urgent and startling— R. B. Robertson
}{his conservatory in winter is a shout of warring geraniums, which fills his heart with joy—G. W. Johnson
}Yell is used chiefly with reference to human utterance and implies not only loudness but sharpness and stridency of sound and usually either the uncontrolled expression of an emotion (as horror, fear, rage, or triumph) or an urgent attempt to attract attention{the two boys yelled with fear— Buck
}{faced a waiting crowd that let out a tumultuous yell of greeting— Sandburg
}{heard the boy yell for help
}In its extended use yell may apply to a sound suggesting a human yell{heard the lacerating yell of a scared bird shrill in his ears— Gibson
}{the long, sunless winters, with their wild snows, their yelling gales—C. G. D. Roberts
}or to an urgent appeal{they have exposed the flimsiness of satellite power, which—when the chips are down—must yell for Red Army help— Goldstein
}Shriek implies a piercingly shrill sound or tone and, as applied to human utterance, suggests a strong emotional back-ground (as of fear, horror, or anguish or less often of some pleasant or neutral emotion){a case of goods from Paris to examine with little shrieks of excitement— Jesse
}{the heavy booming of surf. . . could not drown the shriek of tortured metal in her damaged forepart— Porteous
}{this instant's hesitation seemed to fill him with a tremendous, fantastic contempt, and he damned them in shrieked sentences— Crane
}{I threatened the three men with my revolver, but they shrieked for mercy and I did not fire— R. H. Davis
}In extended use shriek, like shout, stresses attention-gaining quality{the slogans and hyperboles of boundless confidence. The advertising columns shrieked with them— F. L. Allen
}{the shriek of red furnaces against the sky— Brand
}Scream in its basic use differs little from shriek{how quick the crows come flapping with their screams— Vance
}{she screamed and fainted and came to and screamed and fainted all over again— Bromfield
}{screaming to God for death by drowning— Millay
}and it may be similar in extended use{the growing industries of Utah are screaming for water— Time
}{the papers carried screaming headlines— Lovett
}but more often its extension refers to something of which the action or occurrence is accompanied by or suggestive of physical screaming{every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year— George Orwell)
}{while smoke-black freights . . . screaming to the west coast, screaming to the east, carry off a harvest, bring back a feast— Lindsay
}{smells of concentration camps and the basements of secret police. There are screaming nerves in it— Priestley
}Screech implies a prolonged, typically inarticulate shriek that is conspicuously harsh or discordant or trying to the nerves{the groan . . . had changed to a screech like an electric butcher saw on bone— Wouk
}{three overfed fish house cats were screeching at each other— Joseph Mitchell
}{their ungreased wooden wheels screeching a cacophony that could be heard for miles— Amer. Guide Series: Minn.
}In extended uses it is closely comparable to such uses of scream{many photographers . . . congratulate themselves when they have almost blown you down with screeching hues alone—a bebop of electric blues, furious reds, and poison greens— Fortune
}{the driver applied his brakes with a jerk, and the car screeched to a stand-still— Bruce Marshall
}Squeal implies a sharp shrill sound that is not necessarily especially loud and that, if of human origin, is ordinarily less emotion-charged than a shriek, scream, or screech{the hulk of this man belied the squeal of his piping voice like a run-down wheel— Salomon
}{on the stage the talk of Mr. Steinbeck's characters occasionally hits the ear with the effect of chalk squealing on a slate— Lardner
}Often the term is used with specific reference to the natural cries of certain animals{the urgent squeals of a hungry pig
}{rats squealing between the walls
}Holler ordinarily refers to human utterance that in tone and volume is equivalent to shout{his holler and shout made the bobcat shiver— Warren
}Often it implies a purpose (as of warning or attracting attention){hollered again and again until the boy turned
}or an expression (as of surprise or distress or anger){let out a holler as the stone whizzed by his head
}In extended use the term stresses vehemence (as in expostulating or criticizing or demanding){the correspondents holler so . . . because the legend of the profession demands that one must be objective in all things— Belden
}{I didn't see he'd taken my line at first and when I did I put up a holler— Brace
}{in spite of six rate increases in the last seven years, casualty companies are already getting ready to holler for more— Time
}Whoop, like holler, usually refers to human utterance equivalent in quality to shout, but ordinarily it implies eagerness, enthusiasm, or enjoyment as a cause{made a man want to cry and whoop all at the same time— Krey
}In its varied extended uses it is likely to suggest exuberant, often noisy vigor or vitality{whoops up a selling boom— Stegner
}{whooped through on a voice vote a stopgap foreign aid appropriation bill— Current Biog.
}Analogous words: *roar, bellow, bawl, howlshout n yell, shriek, scream, screech, squeal, holler, whoop (see under SHOUT vb)Analogous words: bellow, vociferation, clamor, bawl, roar (see under ROAR vb)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
