as in gruff
harsh and dry in sound
the dying man spoke in a hoarse whisper
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Recent Examples of hoarse
For most of his first 10 songs, Costello’s singing was ragged and hoarse.
—
George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2025
Screamed himself hoarse and still tried calling for his brother.
—Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 June 2025
Signs someone has swallowed a button battery include: noisy breathing, coughing, drooling, difficulty swallowing, a hoarse voice, vomiting, chest or abdominal pain, and gagging, coughing or choking with eating or drinking.
—Meredith Wilshere, People.com, 8 June 2025
Lately, there has been one with a hoarse screech calling me.
—Joan Morris, Mercury News, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoarse
George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2025
Screamed himself hoarse and still tried calling for his brother.
—Maria Morava, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 June 2025
Signs someone has swallowed a button battery include: noisy breathing, coughing, drooling, difficulty swallowing, a hoarse voice, vomiting, chest or abdominal pain, and gagging, coughing or choking with eating or drinking.
—Meredith Wilshere, People.com, 8 June 2025
Lately, there has been one with a hoarse screech calling me.
—Joan Morris, Mercury News, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoarse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoarse
Adjective
-
But encounters with the island’s residents, including with his gruff but warm-hearted landlady (played by German screen legend Hanna Schygulla), gradually alter his outlook.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Oct. 2025
-
Panday plays a convincingly gruff tortured artist alongside Padda’s struggling ingenue, and most of the screen time is devoted to their pairing instead of introducing tertiary excess.—
Proma Khosla,
IndieWire,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Athena, who was born in April, is a shepsky mix, half husky and half German shepherd.—
Alyce Collins,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
-
One of Lipa’s most significant attributes is the husky tone of her mezzo-soprano, lending a gritty roughness to her songs’ pop polish.—
Steven J. Horowitz,
Variety,
5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Start with turbinado sugar, which has a coarse texture and a caramel-like flavor that complements coffee beautifully.—
Elizabeth Fogarty,
Better Homes & Gardens,
22 Oct. 2025
-
Add cold butter; pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal (some pea-size pieces are fine), 12 to 15 pulses.—
Alana Al-Hatlani,
Southern Living,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The front door was rusty and the old plumbing in the odorous bathroom had to handle a lot of vomit.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
26 Oct. 2025
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There are real goats and horses here, as well as a snack bar serving funnel cakes, plus hay bales stacked dangerously high, and all manners of rusty farming equipment painted to resemble barnyard animals.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside,
20 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hoarse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoarse. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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