stentorian

adjective

sten·​to·​ri·​an sten-ˈtȯr-ē-ən 

: extremely loud

spoke in stentorian tones

Did you know?

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.

Synonyms

• loud
• deafening
• ringing

Choose the Right Synonym for stentorian

loud, stentorian, earsplitting, raucous, strident mean marked by intensity or volume of sound.

loud applies to any volume above normal and may suggest undue vehemence or obtrusiveness.

loud shouts of protest

stentorian implies great power and range.

an actor with a stentorian voice

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 Web

With his rumbling, stentorian voice, Woods locates unusual pockets inside of beats and deploys a dense, pictorial songwriting style that Earl Sweatshirt compared to Public Enemy’s Chuck D, both in volume and his relationship to rhythm. —Ross Scarano, New York Times, 15 May 2025

Cox has always been a mild, slightly dull Daredevil; D’Onofrio’s hulking, stentorian presence as Fisk was entertaining in the early seasons but has settled into a rut. —Mike Hale, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2025

Smith is fantastic and terrifying as Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden, the stentorian nurse and housekeeper whose domineering overcautiousness feeds into all the self-pitying inclinations of her poor weakling charge Colin Craven. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024

Gone is the grave, stentorian tone of Biden’s news releases. —Ezra Klein, The Mercury News, 14 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1605, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for stentorian

• gregorian
• historian
• nestorian
• praetorian
• chorion
• corean
• dorian
• mauryan
• saurian
• pythagorean
• valedictorian

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Kids Definition

stentorian

adjective

sten·​to·​ri·​an sten-ˈtōr-ē-ən 

-ˈtȯr-

: very loud

a stentorian voice

Etymology

from Stentōr, a Greek messenger at the time of the Trojan War noted for having a very loud voice