Meaning of scream In English

• 0 to cry or say something loudly and usually on a high note, especially because of strong emotions such as fear, excitement, or anger:

  • A spider landed on her pillow and she screamed.

  • Through the smoke, the rescuers could hear people screaming for help.

  • He was screaming in/with pain and begging for anaesthetic.

  • They screamed with laughter at her jokes.

  • Ken screamed (out) a warning telling people to get out of the way.

  • Mrs Brown screamed (= shouted angrily) at Joel for dropping the test-tube.

  • I've never found screaming (and shouting) (= shouting angrily) at my staff to be very effective.

  • [ + speech ] "I wish you were dead!" she screamed (= shouted angrily).

  • I tried to apologize, but he just screamed abuse/obscenities at me.

  • The cars screamed round the bend/past the spectators.

  • The ambulance raced round the corner with its tyres screaming.

• 1 If a word or image screams (out), it gets attention because it is very big or easy to notice:

  • "Latest Plane Disaster!" screamed the newspaper headlines the next day.

• 2 a loud, high sound you make when very frightened, excited, or angry:

  • a scream of pain/rage/joy/laughter

  • No one heard their screams.

  • She let out a piercing/shrill scream.

• 3 a person, thing, or situation that is very funny:

  • Jane's such a scream - her jokes have me in stitches.

• 4 to cry or say something loudly and usually on a high note, esp. because of strong emotions such as fear, excitement, or anger:

  • [ I ] The children screamed in delight as they sledded down the hill.

  • [ I ] Some people still trapped in the wreckage screamed for help.

• 5 a loud high sound you make when you are frightened, excited, or angry:

  • screams of joy/laughter/pain

  • Josie’s a real scream – she’s never serious.