Stentorian
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Loud, powerful, booming, suitable for giving speeches to large crowds.
"Shouts of laughter were elicited, smart biddings drawn out, from the whispers of a timid miss, to the stentorian voice of a fox-hunting squire, and not a few fracas from parties either contending for a supposed prize, or disclaiming their chance for it,..."
- 2 Rare form of stentorian. form-of, rare
"Neither is eloquence or rhetoric unclaimed by him: he perſuaded with Stentorian loquacity, and convinces by the irreſiſtible powers of a bellowing horſe laugh."
- 3 Stern, authoritarian; demanding of respect. broadly
- 1 (used of the voice or sound) deep and resonant wordnet
Example
More examples"At the peep of day we were aroused by the voice of my good grandfather, who planted himself in the stairway and shouted in a stentorian tone, "I wish you all a Merry Christmas!"."
Etymology
From Stentor + -ian, from Ancient Greek Στέντωρ (Sténtōr). Stentor was the herald of the Greek forces in the Iliad, noted for his loud voice.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.