Definitions

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

  • adjective Rough-sounding and harsh.
  • adjective Boisterous and disorderly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Hoarse; harsh; croaking in sound: as, a raucous voice or cry.

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

  • adjective Hoarse; harsh; rough.

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

  • adjective Harsh and rough-sounding.
  • adjective Disorderly and boisterous.
  • adjective loud and annoying

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

  • adjective disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
  • adjective unpleasantly loud and harsh

Etymologies

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

[From Latin raucus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin raucus (hoarse, husky, raucous)

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Examples

Comments

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  • Squawking birds and raucous insects fly about.

    - William Steig, The Zabajaba Jungle

    October 5, 2008