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Glite Dictionary
🪡 To make a hole 💔 To affect deeply 🔊 To cut through (sound)
to pierce

to pierce

22 4.5
To make a loud sharp sound that is heard clearly
  • verb
  • /pɪrs/
translation icon : atravesar
  • The vampires close in on them as Louis struggles; Claudia's scream pierces the night air.
  • piercing shriek

First of all, there was no place on earth that we could be filming and not somehow hear one of those in the distance like it pierces through everything.

Examples

  • Piercing voices in my head.

    John Dies at the End (2013)

  • It is the recognition that the days are difficult, that the times are dark, and yet there's a light that pierces through, that breaks through.

  • Volleys of arrows pierce the air.

    Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

  • "Yet even then the darkness is pierced with the sounds "of men crying in their sleep.

    Guncrazy (1992)

  • The sounds that had earlier pierced the night had fallen on deaf ears.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Yes, but you were the one who let out the piercing shriek that got us caught.

    Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

  • What happens when the light first pierces the dark dampness in which we have waited?

    Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

  • This... piercing squeal, like a steam whistle.

    Boss Level (2021)

  • Beams of sunlight cut through the cracks, piercing the atmosphere like searchlights in a fog.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The siren's wail pierced the silence of the night, making everyone take notice.

Synonyms

to blare
vsto pierce
50 3.8

To make a loud harsh sound that hurts your ears, like a siren

is shriller and more sharply felt rather than only loud
to pipe
vsto pierce
47 7.0

To make a high thin sound like a small bird or child

is sharper and more painfully shrill and strongly noticed
to ring out
vsto pierce
26 3.6

To make a loud clear sound that people can hear far away

is sharper and cuts through quickly rather than simply carrying
to clang
vsto pierce
11 3.5

To make a loud, ringing sound like metal hitting metal

is higher and more sharply painful not just metallic resonance
to resonate through
vsto pierce
1 6.1

To fill a place with sound that is heard clearly everywhere

is more acute and attention grabbing rather than broadly filling space

Antonyms

to muffle
64 5.8

To make a sound or feeling quieter so it is less noticeable

to dull
33 3.4

Cause something to become less sharp, strong or bright

Phrasal Verbs

to pierce through
3 4.4

Move into and through something by making a hole or gap

to pierce through the silence
7.1

A sudden sound, like a scream, that breaks the quiet

How Sharp

to shriek
72 2.9
to pierce
22 4.5
to shout
644 1.0
to call
∞ 1.0
murmur
36 4.1
to whisper
586 1.0

Surface Forms

pierce infinitive
pierced past
pierced past participle
piercing present participle
pierces third person singular

Etymology

Pierce comes from an old French verb percer, which meant 'to make a hole through'. The part per- means 'through', so a sound that pierces seems to go 'through' the air and cut into silence, making you notice it at once.