cacophonous

/kəˈkɒfənəs/

Other forms: cacophonously

The adjective cacophonous describes loud, harsh sounds, like the cacophonous racket your brother and his band mates make while trying to learn how to play their instruments.

To correctly pronounce cacophonous, accent the second syllable: "cuh-CAW-fuh-nus." It is related to the Greek words kakos, meaning "bad, evil," and phone, or "voice." You may feel like you're facing something evil if you’re bombarded by the cacophonous sounds of, say, political pundits yelling at one another, or the chaotic sounds of traffic and voices on a busy urban street. Cacophonous is the opposite of harmonious.

Definitions of cacophonous

1. adjective

   having an unpleasant sound
   “"as cacophonous as a henyard"- John McCarten”

   synonyms: cacophonic

   cackly, squawky

   like the cackles or squawks a hen makes especially after laying an egg

   croaky, guttural

   like the sounds of frogs and crows

   grating, gravelly, rasping, raspy, rough, scratchy

   unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound

   gruff, hoarse, husky

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

   jangling, jangly

   like the discordant ringing of nonmusical metallic objects striking together

   jarring

   making or causing a harsh and irritating sound

   raucous, strident

   unpleasantly loud and harsh

   rending, ripping, splitting

   resembling a sound of violent tearing as of something ripped apart or lightning splitting a tree

   noisy

   full of or characterized by loud and nonmusical sounds

   antonyms:

   euphonious

   having a pleasant sound

   golden

   suggestive of gold

   silvern, silvery

   resembling or reminiscent of silver