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katzenjammer

/ˈkætsənˌʤæmər/
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Other forms: katzenjammers

A katzenjammer is an unpleasantly loud, confused, and dissonant sound. A katzenjammer next door might keep you awake all night and make you cranky all the next day.

The noun katzenjammer, while considered somewhat outdated today, has at times been used colloquially to mean various kinds of unpleasant sensations, from general confusion to depression to noisy uproar to a bad, dull headache. The word means "cat's wail" in German, from katze, "cat," and jammer, "distress" or "wailing."

Definitions of katzenjammer
  1. noun
    loud confused noise from many sources
    synonyms: brouhaha, hubbub, uproar
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    type of:
    noise
    sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
  2. noun
    disagreeable aftereffects from the use of drugs (especially alcohol)
    synonyms: hangover
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    type of:
    discomfort, uncomfortableness
    the state of being tense and feeling pain
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