Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Extremely loud.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Resembling the voice of Stentor (see stentor, etymology); extremely loud or powerful in sound.
  • Able to utter a very loud sound: as, stentorian lungs.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to a stentor; extremely loud; powerful.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a voice Loud, powerful, booming, suitable for giving speeches to large crowds.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective used of the voice

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Stentor + –ian.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Stentor, from Ancient Greek Στέντωρ (Stentōr) + -ian. Stentor was the herald of the Greek forces in the Iliad, noted for his loud voice.

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Examples

  • His face blazed with wrath, and he shouted in stentorian tones that echoed down the universe, "I shall deduct the cost of those cuffs from your wages!"

    Chapter 25 2010

  • BURGLARY! in stentorian tones every time a cat crosses the yard.

    i walk where the bottles break and the blacktop still comes back for more truepenny 2008

  • When I asked Zhao Yao whether his life was different now, he began in stentorian tones — “The impact of my involvement in the show has been profound” — and then started laughing and said, “I am taking the tone promoted by the show, enthusiastic and assertive!”

    Win in China! 2007

  • When I asked Zhao Yao whether his life was different now, he began in stentorian tones — “The impact of my involvement in the show has been profound” — and then started laughing and said, “I am taking the tone promoted by the show, enthusiastic and assertive!”

    Win in China! 2007

  • His face blazed with wrath, and he shouted in stentorian tones that echoed down the universe, "I shall deduct the cost of those cuffs from your wages!"

    Chapter 25 1908

  • He then led us through a narrow, dark alley underneath a house, where I dismounted, as a lama called out in stentorian voice,

    With the Tibetans in Tent and Temple: Narrative of Four Years' Residence on the Tibetan Borders, and of a Journey into the Far Interior 1901

  • "How do you like London?" said a loud voice, in the tones that are sometimes called stentorian, and Patty suddenly realised that her host was addressing her.

    Patty's Friends Carolyn Wells 1902

  • When, therefore, he was exhorted to rap on the little girl's door, he gave sundry noisy, gleeful thumps, – pounding with both fists, and alternating with a rhythmical kick of the cowhide boots, calling out in stentorian tones: Come, little un, – time you 's up.

    Oldtown Folks 1869

  • Lock the door to mom’s basement, firmly grasp your testicles, and feel them grow as you recite it out loud in stentorian tones.

    …Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, and Thrifty… 2007

  • "Just one moment," called a stentorian voice in the gallery.

    The Landloper Holman Day 1900

Comments

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  • Extremely loud. (from Phrontistery)

    May 23, 2008

  • Stentor: a Greek herald in the Trojan War. It is a solid, manly word indeed.

    August 16, 2008

  • Really logos? That's cool! I never heard that before.

    August 16, 2008

  • Also, a microscopic protozoan which bears a marked resemblance to a trumpet.

    In fact, Stentor is not mentioned in the Iliad but is only referenced when Hera speaks in Book V, 'with a voice like Stentor, as loud as fifty other men'.

    August 16, 2008

  • Is it like a Cape Horn voice? *ponders*

    August 16, 2008