1
: a high shrill piercing cry usually expressing pain or terror
2
: a sound resembling a screech
screeched; screeching; screeches
1
: to utter a high shrill piercing cry : make an outcry usually in terror or pain
2
: to make a shrill high-pitched sound resembling a screech
also
: to move with such a sound
the car screeched to a stop
: to utter with or as if with a screech
screecher
noun
Examples of screech in a Sentence
Noun
With a loud screech, she smashed the plate against the wall.
Verb
I screeched when I saw the mouse.
He kept screeching at the children to pay attention.
“You can't do this to me!” she screeched.
Recent Examples on the Web
Dominique Soguel, Christian Science Monitor, 17 June 2025
The trio frantically scramble to stop the train, but as the film cuts to black, the sounds of glass shattering and the screech of wheels hammer in, yet again, that there’s no escape.
—Gayle Sequeira, Vulture, 16 May 2025
Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2025
Even leaning a couple of yards to the left would set the Geiger counters we’d been handed at the start of the tour screeching, signifying dangerous levels of radiation.
—Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screech
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Noun
The constant clang of metal and the screech of drills suggest the sort of work underway at a warehouse-turned-workshop in this Ukrainian city about 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of Kyiv.
—Dominique Soguel, Christian Science Monitor, 17 June 2025
The trio frantically scramble to stop the train, but as the film cuts to black, the sounds of glass shattering and the screech of wheels hammer in, yet again, that there’s no escape.
—Gayle Sequeira, Vulture, 16 May 2025
Verb
The series centers on Xenomorph, a feral and screeching creature, and has an international cast that includes Sydney Chandler and Timothy Olyphant.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 8 May 2025
Even leaning a couple of yards to the left would set the Geiger counters we’d been handed at the start of the tour screeching, signifying dangerous levels of radiation.
—Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for screech
Cite this Entry
“Screech.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/screech. Accessed 29 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
screech
1 of 2 noun1
: a shrill harsh cry usually expressing pain or terror
2
: a sound like a screech
the screech of brakes
screech
2 of 2 verb1
: to cry out usually in terror or pain
2
: to make a sound like a screech
the car screeched to a halt
screecher
noun
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