Stridulate
//ˈstɹɪdjʊleɪt// verb
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To make a high-pitched chirping, grating, hissing, or squeaking sound, as male crickets and grasshoppers do, by rubbing certain body parts together. intransitive
"A window was open, and the crickets were stridulating at an ominous speed in the black motionless foliage."
- 2 make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together special bodily structures wordnet
Example
More examples"A window was open, and the crickets were stridulating at an ominous speed in the black motionless foliage."
Etymology
Back-formation from stridulation. (From earlier term stridulous; from Latin strīdulus (“giving a shrill sound, creaking”), from strīdō (“utter a shrill or harsh sound; creak, shriek, grate, hiss”))
Related phrases
More for "stridulate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.