strident

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈstraɪdənt/ UK /ˈstraɪdənt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
(of a sound) loud and harsh; grating

Her strident voice cut through the noise of the crowd.
2

adj
presenting a point of view, especially a controversial one, in an excessively forceful way

The campaign took a strident tone against its opponents.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · (of a sound) loud and... harsh grating shrill raucous jarring

2 adj · presenting a point of view,... vehement forceful aggressive clamorous insistent

Opposites

soft gentle mellow soothing

Simplified etymology

Strident comes from Latin stridere, meaning “to creak.” The related 19th-century verb stridulate, used for the production of sounds by insects such as grasshoppers, derives from the same Latin root.

Etymology

From Latin stridens, stridentem, the present participle of stridere ('to make a harsh sound, creak'), entering English in the 17th century.

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# strident

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈstraɪdənt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈstraɪdənt/

## Meanings
1. (of a sound) loud and harsh; grating
2. presenting a point of view, especially a controversial one, in an excessively forceful way

## Examples
- Her strident voice cut through the noise of the crowd.
- The campaign took a strident tone against its opponents.

## Synonyms
- harsh
- grating
- shrill
- raucous
- jarring
- vehement
- forceful
- aggressive
- clamorous
- insistent

## Antonyms
- soft
- gentle
- mellow
- soothing

## Etymology
From Latin stridens, stridentem, the present participle of stridere ('to make a harsh sound, creak'), entering English in the 17th century.

## AI Etymology
Strident comes from Latin stridens, stridentem, the present participle of stridere ('to make a harsh sound, creak'), entering English in the 17th century. In current use it is an adjective meaning "(of a sound) loud and harsh; grating". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The -ing ending supplies a participial or action-noun shape. For dictionary purposes, the important point is the continuity between the older form, the route into English, and the present lexical sense.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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