Loudest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a sound level that is higher than any competing sound source
2. Exhibiting sound at an intensity that exceeds all other auditory sources
3. Making the greatest amount of noise compared to anything else present

Etymology: "Loudest" is the superlative of "loud," and the superlative ending "-est" is one of the oldest tools in English grammar. The base word "loud" comes from Old English "hlud," which was tied to hearing and sound from the earliest records and is related to Old Norse "hljóðr" and German "laut." Its core sense, "heard from afar" or "easily perceived," still shows in older uses, where a loud sound was simply one that carried a long way. The "-est" suffix descends from the same Germanic ancestry that gave English most of its everyday adjectives, so "loudest" was formed in the ordinary way that "quietest," "biggest," and "newest" were. There is no borrowing, coinage, or shift in meaning to report: the form has been built the same way since Old English and needed no special invention. The only notable change is in how the sense narrowed. Medieval writers used "loud" for a wide range of strong or piercing sounds, while the modern adjective is mostly reserved for volume itself.

Synonyms: noisiest, boisterous

Antonyms: quietest, softest