unpleasant loud noise from one instrument

Hello.

In my language, we have an adjective used to describe the loud unpleasant sound from one musical instrument. It literary translates to "ear-scratching"!

Example: He has just started playing the trumpet. I can only hear ear-scratching noises coming from his room.

Is there an "adjective" similar to that in English?

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

ear-piercing/ear-splitting

You have 24 hours to use Edit Post followed by Go Advanced to correct the two careless mistakes in your thread title. A spell-check would have shown these straight away.

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

Rover_KE said:

ear-piercing/ear-splitting

Click to expand...

But they don't mean "unpleasant". They just mean "loud".

alpacinoutd said:

Is there an adjective similar to that in English?

Click to expand...

See above. You're asking about an adjective, not a word that someone might describe as an "adjective".

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

alpacinoutd said:

But they don't mean "unpleasant". They just mean "loud".

Click to expand...

Uncomfortably loud.

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

When I was a teenager living at home with my mum, I used to practise drums in the house. My mum wasn't too pleased about this, and often used to complain that I was "making a racket". (She wasn't big into punk music.)

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

Screeching

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

Discordant

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

Whilst "ear-piercing" and "screeching" can describe the sound of an instrument (being played badly!), they really only refer to high-pitched instruments. "Ear-splitting" can refer to lower, loud noises but they don't have to be unpleasant. Thunderclaps are sometimes described as "ear-splitting".

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

A ghastly noise

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

If someone told you this:

Last night, I was invited to my boss's place. His son was playing the trumpet and "ear-splitting" noises were coming from his room.

Would you assume that the person who is saying this was annoyed by the sounds and found them unpleasant?

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

Tdol said:

A ghastly noise

Click to expand...

Not a term we use in American English, but I wish we did.

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

alpacinoutd said:

If someone told you this:

Last night, I was invited to my boss's place. His son was playing the trumpet and "ear-splitting" noises were coming from his room.

Would you assume that the person who is saying this was annoyed by the sounds and found them unpleasant?

Click to expand...

Yes.

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

GoesStation said:

Yes.

Click to expand...

So, ear-splitting doesn't mean just "loud"? At least in some situations it means bother "loud" and "unpleasant". Am I right?

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

alpacinoutd said:

So, ear-splitting doesn't mean just "loud"? At least in some situations it means bother "loud" and "unpleasant". Am I right?

Click to expand...

It means "painfully loud". Doesn't the dictionary say something like that?

This definition says "distressingly loud or shrill". That pretty much covers it for me.

alpacinoutd, we're happy to answer your questions but please take the time to look in a dictionary or other appropriate reference first.

GoesStation said:

alpacinoutd, we're happy to answer your questions but please take the time to look in a dictionary or other appropriate reference first.

Click to expand...

I sure checked Longman, Oxford and Collins dictionaries. All of them said this:

very loud

ˈear-splitting

[COLOR=c_default_color]adjective
extremely loud

[COLOR=c_default_color]ADJ:[COLOR=c_default_color] usu ADJ n
An ear-splitting noise is very loud.

[/COLOR]



[/COLOR]


[/COLOR]

Google's interesting, isn't it? I put "definition of ear-splitting" into Google and the first hit was Merriam-Webster, which gave the definition I linked to.

Re: unpleasant lound noice from one instrument

alpacinoutd said:

But they don't mean "unpleasant". They just mean "loud".

Click to expand...

They mean unpleasant, too.

We use grating sometimes. That's unpleasant but not always loud. Would that fit? Look it up.