Stridently

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a manner that is loud, harsh, and forceful, often sharply unpleasant to hear
2. Expressed with a piercing and grating quality that demands attention
3. Done in a way that is aggressively loud and shrill, typically to emphasize a point

Etymology: "Stridently" is simply "strident" with the adverbial ending "-ly" added. "Strident" itself comes from the Latin "stridere," meaning to creak or grate, and the sense of harsh, grating noise has stayed attached to it ever since. The adverb follows the same logic: something done stridently is done with that grating, forceful quality, whether the sound is literal or the insistence is figurative. The "-ly" ending has a long pedigree of its own. It descends from an Old English form "-līċe," which goes back through Proto-Germanic roots tied to the idea of body or form, so that "-ly" once carried a sense close to "in the likeness of." Over the centuries it became the everyday marker that turns adjectives into adverbs, and "stridently" is one of countless words built this way.

Synonyms: loudly, harshly, vociferously

Antonyms: quietly, softly