loud
Plurallouds (some meanings)
- 1Making or marked by a great deal of sound; of high volume or intensity.
The factory floor was too loud for normal conversation.
A loud argument broke out between the neighbors.
Oppositequiet
Note
Here the noise belongs to whoever or whatever makes it: a party, a factory floor, a person. Said of people, it reaches back at least to the King James Bible of 1611, "She is loud and stubborn," where it already blurs into a judgment of character. That blur is the bridge to the "brash" meaning, where no actual noise need be made at all.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
- The King James Bible uses loud of a person in the quoted wording, in a passage judging her character. en.wikisource.org
- 2With a great deal of volume or noise; at high volume.
Don't talk so loud in the library.
Turn the radio up loud so we can hear the game from the yard.
UsageComes after the verb, often with so or as louder: talk so loud, sing louder. The set phrase out loud means audibly, not necessarily at high volume.
Similarnoisily
Note
A separate Old English adverb, hlūde, stands behind this use, so loud here is not a clipped form of loudly. Shakespeare's Hostess asks "Who knocks so loud at door?", Fielding's officer is "snoaring so loud", and Paul Krugman's money "talks louder than ever".
- 3Not subtle or reserved in manner; brash and attention-seeking.
Her loud personality dominated every meeting she attended.
Even in a short email, his loud, self-promoting personality came through.
UsageUsually disapproving, close to brash, though context can make loud neutral or approving.
Similarbrash, brassy, flamboyant, showy
Oppositereserved, quiet, subdued, understated
Note
No sound is required: loud now describes a manner that pushes itself forward. The superlative does much of the work. When Ben Joravsky wrote in 1988 of "the loudest blubberers", he meant the people who complain most conspicuously, not most audibly.
Less common meanings
- 4Marked by unpleasantly bright or clashing colors or patterns; gaudy.
He wore a loud Hawaiian shirt to the somber gathering.
The lobby's loud wallpaper combined orange swirls with purple stripes.
UsageUsually of clothes, patterns and decor: a loud shirt, loud wallpaper, a loud tie.
Similargaudy, garish, flashy, lurid, showy
Oppositemuted, subdued, sober, understated
Note
Sound lends its vocabulary to sight: colors and patterns that clash are heard as shouting. Janis Mink's study of Joan Miró keeps the metaphor going, setting a loud portrait against one with "a soft, hushed atmosphere". Its near neighbor gaudy stresses the tastelessness, while loud stresses how hard the thing demands attention.
- 5The drug marijuana itself, when of high quality, especially a potent and strong-smelling variety.
She paid extra for loud you could smell through the bag.
The dealer reserved the loud for his regular customers.
UsageUsually no a and no plural: people buy loud or the loud.
Note
Here the slang adjective becomes a name for the drug itself; the premium-quality adjective carries the story of the smell. As a noun it is uncountable. People buy loud or the loud, never a loud or louds, and that keeps it apart from the sound-engineering noun, whose plural is common.
- 6A noise of high volume, or the louder portion of a sound.
Instead of flattening the mix, the engineer kept the gap between the loud and the soft, so the chorus still hit hard.
A good compressor tames the louds without burying the softs.
UsageUsually paired with soft: the louds and the softs, the loud and the soft of a mix.
Note
Studio talk pairs the louds with the softs: the high- and low-volume stretches of a recording. Sam McGuire and David Liban's The Video Editor's Guide to Soundtrack Pro uses the pair when it discusses making "the louds louder and the softs softer" with an expander.
- 7Describing marijuana as being of high or premium quality; by extension, giving off a strong, pungent smell that shows such quality.
Customers pay extra for loud bud they can smell through the bag.
The shop's new strain is loud, with a sharp smell that fills the room the moment the jar opens.
UsageKeep it to casual talk about cannabis: loud weed, loud bud.
Similardank, potent, pungent, strong
Note
Cannabis slang turns the word toward the nose. Loud weed is premium, and its strong, pungent smell is taken as the proof: an aroma that announces itself the way a loud sound does. The same idea gives the noun for the drug itself.
Showing meanings only.
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Origins
From Middle English loude, from Old English hlūd ("loud, noisy, sonorous"), going back through Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz ("heard") to the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew- ("to hear"). It is related to German laut, Dutch luid, and Latin inclutus ("famous").
Proto-Germanic *hlūda gave Old English hlūde ("loudly"), which became Middle English loude. It is related to the first origin of the word.