scream

1. 1.

   utter a sudden loud cry

   “she cried with pain when the doctor inserted the needle”

   “I yelled to her from the window but she couldn't hear me”

   Synonymsshoutshout outcrycallyellhollerhollosquall

   Broaderutter

   Narrowerhollohurrahhalloowhoopshriekhowlsquawk
2. 2.

   utter or declare in a very loud voice

   “You don't have to yell--I can hear you just fine”

   Synonymsyell

   Broadershout
3. 3.

   make a loud, piercing sound

   “Fighter planes are screaming through the skies”

   Broadermake noise

Other forms of scream

plural

screams·

past tense

screamed·

present participle

screaming·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about scream

What does scream mean?

scream means "sharp piercing cry". That is the primary sense; the word has 6 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in scream?

scream has 1 syllable: scream. In IPA it is /ˈskɹim/.

What is another word for scream?

Close synonyms include screaming, shriek, shrieking, screech, screeching. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is scream a common word?

scream is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.