earsplitting

adjectiveB2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Earsplitting means so loud that it hurts to listen. A smoke alarm going off at three in the morning.

The word is reserved for genuine pain — an earsplitting shriek, an earsplitting bang, an earsplitting whistle from the terraces. Anything merely loud does not qualify, which is how the word keeps its force. It is often written with a hyphen as ear-splitting, and both spellings are accepted. English keeps a whole shelf of these compounds for noise, and deafening, piercing and ear-piercing all cover the same ground with slightly different edges.

Definitions of earsplitting

1adjectiveearsplittingExtremely loud, to the point of pain.B2
“There was an earsplitting crash from the kitchen.”
synonyms: deafening, piercing

Where it comes from

From ear + splitting.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 23 of A Man Called Ove.

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