HOARSE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hoarse mean? 

• HOARSE (adjective)
  The adjective HOARSE has 1 sense:

1. deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness or emotion

  Familiarity information: HOARSE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOARSE (adjective)

Comparative: hoarser   
Superlative: hoarsest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness or emotion

Synonyms:

gruff; hoarse; husky

Context example:

makes all the instruments sound powerful but husky

Similar:

cacophonic; cacophonous (having an unpleasant sound)

Derivation:

hoarseness (a throaty harshness)

 Context examples 

The cries, which had sunk down into a hoarse, inarticulate shouting, came from the room which we had first visited.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"He's ben drinkin'," he proclaimed in a hoarse whisper. "I told you he would."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Whereupon I again thrust up my stick and handkerchief, calling for help till I was almost hoarse.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it might have come either from a man or a woman.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Help me to a seat,” he said, in the same hoarse, frightened voice.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Later, you may have symptoms such as: • Painful or difficult swallowing • Weight loss • A hoarse voice or cough that doesn't go away

(Esophageal Cancer, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

“You will know that soon enough,” replied a man with a hoarse voice.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Their breath came quick and hoarse, and their beautiful coats were matted with moisture.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As he spoke the hoarse blast of a horn was heard from some woods upon the right.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The newsboys, as he went, were crying themselves hoarse along the footways: “Special edition. Shocking murder of an M.P.”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)