Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To cry out suddenly or vehemently, as from surprise or emotion.
  • intransitive verb To express or utter (something) suddenly or vehemently.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To cry out; speak with vehemence; make a loud outcry in words: as, to exclaim against oppression; to exclaim with wonder or astonishment.
  • To say loudly or vehemently; cry out: as, he exclaimed, I will not!
  • noun Outcry; clamor; exclamation.

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

  • verb To cry out from earnestness or passion; to utter with vehemence; to call out or declare loudly; to protest vehemently; to vociferate; to shout.
  • noun Archaic Outcry; clamor.

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

  • verb intransitive To cry out suddenly, from some strong emotion.
  • noun obsolete Exclamation; outcry, clamor.

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

  • verb utter aloud; often with surprise, horror, or joy
  • verb state or announce

Etymologies

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

[French exclamer, from Latin exclāmāre : ex-, ex- + clāmāre, to call; see kelə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French exclamer, from Latin exclāmāre ("call out"), from ex- + clāmāre ("to call").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word exclaim.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.