banshee

noun

: a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose appearance or wailing warns a family that one of them will soon die
We heard someone screaming like a banshee.

Did you know?

In Irish folklore, a bean sídhe (literally "woman of fairyland") was not a welcome guest. When she was seen combing her hair or heard wailing beneath a window, it was considered a sign that a family member was about to die. English speakers modified the mournful fairy's Irish name into the modern word banshee—a term we now most often use to evoke her woeful or terrible or earsplitting cry, as in "to scream like a banshee," or attributively, as in "a banshee wail."

Examples of banshee in a Sentence

I heard someone wailing like a banshee.
Recent Examples on the Web At the same time, McGirr, who graduated from Central Saint Martins, brought his very own Irish roots, through Irish folklore and the mythical banshee to the British brand. Jeetendr Sehdev, Forbes, 30 Sep. 2024 It would be inspired by Pandora – The World of Avatar, which opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Disney World in 2017 and won rave reviews in part for its Avatar Flight of Passage attraction, where guests can ride a banshee on a 3-D flight over Pandora. Michael Salerno, The Arizona Republic, 9 May 2024 Almshouse dwellers, sitting in the sun, watching the surging tide and the glistening water, tell of spirits and banshees and fays. Alexander Sammon, Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2022 Both center on one of the genre’s most reliable tropes: mothers who either turn into monsters or have been banshees from hell from the very beginning. Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2023 See all Example Sentences for banshee 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'banshee.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Irish bean sídhe & Scottish Gaelic bean sìth, literally, woman of fairyland

First Known Use

1771, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of banshee was in 1771

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Dictionary Entries Near banshee

Cite this Entry

“Banshee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/banshee. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

banshee

noun
: a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose wailing warns that a death will occur soon
Etymology

from Irish bean sídhe & Scottish Gaelic bean sìth, literally, "woman of fairyland"

More from Merriam-Webster on banshee

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