The Greek herald Stentor was known for having a voice that came through loud and clear. In fact, in the Iliad, Homer described Stentor as a man whose voice was as loud as that of fifty men together. Stentor's powerful voice made him a natural choice for delivering announcements and proclamations to the assembled Greek army during the Trojan War, and it also made his name a byword for any person with a loud, strong voice. Both the noun stentor and the related adjective stentorian pay homage to the big-voiced warrior, and both have been making noise in English since the early 17th century.
earsplitting implies loudness that is physically discomforting.
the earsplitting sound of a siren
raucous implies a loud harsh grating tone, especially of voice, and may suggest rowdiness.
the raucous shouts of drunken revelers
strident implies a rasping discordant but insistent quality, especially of voice.
the strident voices of hecklers
Examples of stentorian in a Sentence
the professor's stentorian voice was enough to keep even the drowsiest student awake
Recent Examples on the WebDarcy’s singing may sometimes bring to mind the stentorian declamations of the Fall’s Mark E. Smith, but there’s also a strain of petulant hot-guy brio in his voice that a Strokes fan might recognize.—Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2024 But its structure is traditional and its bursts of emotion, from stentorian speeches to frantic embraces and fistfights, can seem over the top.—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 28 Feb. 2024 Filmed while pregnant with her first daughter, the comedian cracks wry, filthy, and culturally specific jokes in a stentorian voice with equal shades of formidability and shrewd wit.—Eric Farwell, EW.com, 9 Jan. 2024 The quietly ominous rumble at the start of Tesori’s score gives way to a chorus of fliers whose stentorian march morphs into a neo-Baroque fugue.—Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 29 Oct. 2023 See all Example Sentences for stentorian
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stentorian.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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