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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.
Examples of stentorian in a Sentence
Justin Davidson, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026
Imagery was multiplied to tell a story—the stentorian Mussolini, with his upraised chin and bald head, delivering a speech, or Hitler, with his toothbrush mustache, gesticulating.
—Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026
Here was a bespectacled man with a stentorian mid-century voice, urging the initiates to try the Calabrian tuna toast (scrumptious), the cheeseburger (heavenly), and the shrimp cocktail (not so much).
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
In his best work, Miller had a way of switching from grand stentorian speechifying to humble small talk.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for stentorian
Cite this Entry
“Stentorian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stentorian. Accessed 6 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
stentorian
adjective
from Stentōr, a Greek messenger at the time of the Trojan War noted for having a very loud voice
