ENGLISH
REFERENCE

roar

n. countable
B1 Intermediate US //ˈɹɔɹ// UK //ɹˈɔː// roar Informal

n. a long, loud, deep sound. You usually hear this from a large animal like a lion or from a very powerful engine.

n. a full, deep, prolonged sound uttered by a large animal or produced by a powerful mechanical source. Often used figuratively to describe the sound of laughter or the ocean.


SIMPLE

The lion's roar echoed through the valley.

CONTEXTUAL

The crowd let out a massive roar when the home team finally scored in the last minute.

COMPLEX

The constant roar of the waterfall made conversation nearly impossible, forcing the hikers to communicate through simple hand gestures as they approached the base.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English roren, raren, from Old English rārian (“to roar; wail; lament”), from Proto-West Germanic rairōn, from Proto-Germanic rairōną (“to bellow; roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *rey- (“to shout; bellow; yell; bark”), perhaps of imitative origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian roorje (“to roar”), German röhren (“to roar”).

Usage

Commonly paired with 'of' to describe the source, such as 'a roar of laughter' or 'the roar of the engines'.

Idioms2 entries

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