Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "shrill" []

  • High-pitched and piercing in tone or sound: the shrill wail of a siren. (adjective)
  • Producing a sharp, high-pitched tone or sound: a shrill fife. (adjective)
  • Sharp or keen to the senses; harshly vivid: shrill colors. (adjective)
  • To utter in a shrill manner; scream. (verb-transitive)
  • To produce a shrill cry or sound. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "shrill" in a sentence
  • "PAGE 134.l. 13. _ivory shrill_, the shrill sound of the ivory horn. ll."
  • "Harry Reid doesn't know what the term shrill means."
  • "He sites what he calls the shrill voices of liberal-left journalists, or 'laptop bombadiers' that became the champions of forceful western intervention."