loud
/ˈlaʊ̯d/ adjective, noun, adverb, proper noun
Forms louder loudest louds lowd
- adjective (of a sound) Of great intensity. “Turn that music down; it's too loud.”
- adjective (of a person, thing, event, etc.) Noisy. “a loud party that went on all night”
- adjective (of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.
- adjective (of clothing, decorations, etc.) Having unpleasantly and tastelessly contrasting colours or patterns; gaudy. “a loud style of dress; loud colors”
- adjective (of marijuana, slang) High-quality; premium; (by extension) having a strong or pungent odour indicating good quality.
- adjective (of an odor) Of great intensity.
- noun (colloquial) A loud sound or part of a sound.
- noun (slang, uncountable) High-quality marijuana.
- adverb Loudly.
- proper noun (countable) A surname.
Synonyms
garish gaudy ample blaring forceful forte fortissimo noisy powerful sonorous stentorian strident strong voluminous brassy cheap flash flashy gimcrack meretricious tacky tatty tawdry trashy loudly aloud
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English loude, loud, lud, from Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, *hlūþaz (“heard”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewtos (“heard, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). More at listen.
Akin to Scots loud, lowd (“loud”), Swedish ljud, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk lyd, Faroese ljóð, Icelandic hljóð, West Frisian lûd (“loud”), Dutch luid (“loud”), Low German lud (“loud”), German laut (“loud”), Irish clú (“repute”), Welsh clywed (“heard”), clod (“praise”), Latin laudare (“praise”), Tocharian A/B klots/klautso 'ear', klyostär 'heard', Ancient Greek κλυτός (klutós, “famous”), Albanian quaj (“to name, call”), shquar (“famous, notorious”), Old Armenian լու (lu, “the act of hearing”), Old Church Slavonic слава (slava, “glory”), слово (slovo, “word”), Sanskrit श्रव (śráva, “glory”).
From Middle English loude, from Old English hlūde (“loudly”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūda, *hlūdô (“loudly”), related to Etymology 1.
* from the place name Lyde,
* and a spelling variant of Louth in Lincolnshire, itself related to the adjective,
* and finally variants of the Irish surnames McLeod, McLouth.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Having, making, or being a strong or great sound; noisy; striking the ear with great force; as, a loud cry; loud thunder.
- adjective Clamorous; boisterous.
- adverb With loudness; loudly.
Etymology [OE. loud, lud, AS. hl; akin to OS. hl, D. luid, OHG. l, G. laut, L. -clutus, in inclutus, inclitus, celebrated, renowned, cluere to be called, Gr. . Client, Listen, Slave a serf.]
Etymology [AS. hlude.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “loud”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details