roaring

[rawr-ing, rohr-]

noun

1. the act of a person, animal, or thing that roars.

2. a loud, deep cry or sound or a series of such sounds.

3. Veterinary Pathology.,  a disease of horses, caused by respiratory obstruction or vocal cord paralysis, and characterized by loud or rough breathing sounds.

adjective

1. making or causing a roar, as an animal or thunder.

2. brisk or highly successful, as trade.

   He did a roaring business selling watches to tourists.

3. characterized by noisy, disorderly behavior; boisterous; riotous.

   roaring revelry.

4. complete; utter; out-and-out.

   a roaring idiot; a roaring success.

adverb

1. very; extremely.

   roaring drunk.

roaring

/ ˈrɔːrɪŋ /

adjective

1. informal,  very brisk and profitable (esp in the phrase a roaring trade )

2. the period of the Australian goldrushes

3. derogatory,  (intensifier)

   a roaring communist

adverb

1. noisily or boisterously (esp in the phrase roaring drunk )

noun

1. a loud prolonged cry

2. a debilitating breathing defect of horses characterized by rasping sounds with each breath: caused by inflammation of the respiratory tract or obstruction of the larynx Compare whistling

Other Word Forms

• roaringly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of roaring¹

before 1000; Middle English roryng (noun, adj.), Old English rarung (noun). See roar, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

While walking the noisy, packed streets of the central city, with the engines of London Transport double-decker buses roaring, horns tooting and newspaper sellers shouting the headlines of the latest European crisis, he muses:

From Salon

At 17-5 up, the Scots were in decent shape but Fiji came roaring out the traps after the break.

From BBC

His team have shown what they can achieve in front of a roaring St James' when their focus is tack sharp.

From BBC

But if the New York event is a roaring success, then it will not go unnoticed in Melbourne, Paris and London.

From BBC

What’s wrong with a kid wearing cat ears or roaring like a lion at playtime?

From Salon

Related Words

• boisterous 
• booming www.thesaurus.com
• clamorous 
• crashing 
• deafening 
• earsplitting 
• raucous 
• resounding 
• ringing www.thesaurus.com
• rowdy 
• thundering 
• tumultuous 
• turbulent