clamor

English

WOTD – 29 April 2008

Alternative forms

• clamour (UK English)

Etymology

Recorded in English since c. 1385, as Middle English clamour, from Old French clamor (modern clameur), from Latin clāmor (“a shout, cry”), from clāmō (“cry out, complain”); the sense to silence may have a distinct (unknown) etymology.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklæm.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈklæm.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: clammer
• Rhymes: -æmə(ɹ)

Noun

clamor (countable and uncountable, plural clamors) (American spelling)

1. A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book I, page 17:

     For when he knew his Rival freed and gone, / He ſwells with Wrath; he makes outrageous Moan: / He frets, he fumes, he ſtares, he ſtamps the Ground; / The hollow Tow'r with Clamours rings around: […]

2. Any loud and continued noise.
3. A continued public expression, often of dissatisfaction or discontent; a popular outcry.

Synonyms

• (great outcry): outcry, tumult

Derived terms

• beclamor
• clamorer
• clamorous
• clamorously
• clamorousness
• clamorsome
• outclamor

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kelh₁- (0 c, 49 e)

Translations

great outcry or vociferation

• Arabic:

  Moroccan Arabic: غوات (ḡwāt)

• Azerbaijani: fəryad
• Bulgarian: врява (bg) f (vrjava), глъчка (bg) f (glǎčka)
• Catalan: clamor (ca) m, clam (ca) m
• Czech: řev (cs) m, křik (cs) m, vřava (cs) f, povyk (cs) m
• Dutch: gegil (nl) n, gejoel (nl) n, gekrijs (nl) n, geroep (nl) n, geschreeuw (nl) n
• Galician: clamor m
• German: Geschrei (de) n, Gezeter (de) n, Schreierei f
• Greek:

  Ancient: θόρυβος m (thórubos)

• Maori: rarī, manioro
• Papiamentu: gritamentu
• Persian: فریاد (fa)
• Plautdietsch: Klommua m
• Russian: крик (ru) m (krik), галдёж (ru) m (galdjóž)
• Spanish: clamor (es) m
• Walloon: sclameure (wa) f, boerlaedje (wa) m

loud and continued noise

• Bulgarian: шум (bg) m (šum)
• Catalan: clamor (ca) m, clam (ca) m
• Czech: hluk (cs) m
• Dutch: gedruis (nl) n, lawaai (nl) n
• German: Krach (de) m, Lärm (de) m, Lärmkulisse f
• Greek:

  Ancient: θόρυβος m (thórubos), κέλαδος m (kélados)

• Irish: callán m
• Plautdietsch: Klommua m
• Russian: шум (ru) m (šum)
• Welsh: mwstwr m, dwndwr m, twrw m

continued public expression, often of dissatisfaction; popular outcry

• Catalan: clamor (ca) m, clam (ca) m
• Czech: křik (cs) m, volání (cs) n
• Dutch: boegeroep (nl) n, gekrijt (nl) n, gemor (nl) n, protest (nl) n
• German: Geschrei (de) n, Aufschrei (de) m, Ruf (de) m, Protest (de) m
• Kapampangan: capaniausan (traditional), quepaniausan (traditional literary), kapanyawusan, kepanyawusan
• Ottoman Turkish: خلاش (hılaş)
• Russian: ро́пот (ru) m (rópot)
• Spanish: clamor (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} kriego
• French: ^{(please verify)} clameur (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Geheul (de) n
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} זעקה f, ^{(please verify)} צעקה f
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} klamado (io)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} clamore (it) m, ^{(please verify)} clamori (it) pl
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} alarido (es)

Verb

clamor (third-person singular simple present clamors, present participle clamoring, simple past and past participle clamored) (American spelling)

1. (intransitive) To cry out and/or demand.

   Anyone who tastes our food seems to clamor for more.

   • c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 2:

     All the universities are sending in long petitions to restrict their production. Otherwise, they say, mankind will become extinct through lack of fertility. But the R. U. R. shareholders, of course, won't hear of it. All the governments, on the other hand, are clamoring for an increase in production, to raise the standards of their armies. And all the manufacturers in the world are ordering Robots like mad.

2. (transitive) To demand by outcry.

   Thousands of demonstrators clamoring the government's resignation were literally deafening, yet their cries fell in deaf ears

   • 2013 September 28, Kenan Malik, “London Is Special, but Not That Special”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 September 2013:

     The distinctness of London has led many to clamor for the capital to pursue its own policies, especially on immigration. The British prime minister, David Cameron, is a Conservative. So is the mayor of London, Boris Johnson. But they have diametrically opposed views on immigration.

3. (intransitive) To become noisy insistently.

   After a confused murmur the audience soon clamored

4. (transitive) To influence by outcry.

   His many supporters successfully clamor his election without a formal vote

5. (obsolete, transitive) To silence.

Synonyms

• (to cry out): din

Translations

to cry out and/or demand

• Czech: volat (cs) impf
• German: schreien (de)
• Spanish: clamorear (es)

to demand by outcry

• Bulgarian: вдигам врява (vdigam vrjava), вдигам врява (vdigam vrjava)
• Czech: dožadovat se (cs) impf, dovolávat se impf
• German: mit lautem Geschrei fordern
• Portuguese: clamar (pt), rogar (pt)
• Spanish: clamorear (es)

to become noisy insistently

• Bulgarian: крещя (bg) (kreštja)
• Dutch: zich roeren, van zich laten horen
• Finnish: hälistä
• French: vociférer (fr)
• German: laut werden
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌾𐍉𐌽 (auhjōn)
• Maori: manioro
• Spanish: clamar (es), clamorear (es)

to influence by outcry

to silence

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} clamer (fr)

Anagrams

• Colmar, molrac

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin clāmōrem (“a shout, cry”), from clāmō (“cry out, complain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [kləˈmo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [klaˈmoɾ]
• Rhymes: -o(ɾ)

Noun

clamor m or f (plural clamors)

1. clamor

   Synonym: clam

References

• “clamor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Alternative forms

• clāmōs (Old Latin form, found in Ennius and Lucretius)

Etymology

From Old Latin clāmōs, from clāmō (“complain, cry out”) +‎ -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈklaː.mor/, [ˈkɫ̪äːmɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkla.mor/, [ˈkläːmor]

Noun

clāmor m (genitive clāmōris); third declension

1. a shout, shouting
2. an acclamation, applause
3. a clamor, cry, outcry, protest
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.222:

     “[...] clāmōrēs simul horrendōs ad sīdera tollit [...].”

     “[The serpents attack Laocoön:] at the same time he raises horrible cries up to heaven [...].”

4. a noise, sound

   Synonyms: clangor, strepitus, fragor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	clāmor	clāmōrēs
genitive	clāmōris	clāmōrum
dative	clāmōrī	clāmōribus
accusative	clāmōrem	clāmōrēs
ablative	clāmōre	clāmōribus
vocative	clāmor	clāmōrēs

Related terms

• clāmātor
• clāmitō
• clāmō
• clāmōsus

 

Descendants

• French: clameur
  • → English: clamor, clamour
• → Italian: clamore
• → Portuguese: clamor
• → Spanish: clamor

References

• “clamor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “clamor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• clamor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• clamor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to elicit loud applause: clamores (coronae) facere, excitare
    
  • to raise a shout, a cry: clamorem tollere (Liv. 3. 28)
    

Old French

Alternative forms

• clamour
• clamur

Etymology

From Latin clāmor, clāmōrem.

Noun

clamor oblique singular, m (oblique plural clamors, nominative singular clamors, nominative plural clamor)

1. clamor (continued shouting and uproar)

Descendants

• English: clamor, clamour
• French: clameur

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin clāmōrem.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /klaˈmoʁ/ [klaˈmoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /klaˈmoʁ/ [klaˈmoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /klaˈmoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /klaˈmoʁ/ [klaˈmoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /klaˈmoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /klɐˈmoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /klɐˈmoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /klɐˈmo.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: cla‧mor

Noun

clamor m (plural clamores)

1. din (loud noise)

   Synonyms: estrépido, algazarra

Related terms

• clamar
• clamoroso
• chamar

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin clāmōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klaˈmoɾ/ [klaˈmoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: cla‧mor

Noun

clamor m (plural clamores)

1. a clamor, shout
2. a protest, outcry
3. a loud noise

Derived terms

• clamorear

 

Related terms

• clamar
• clamoroso
• llamar

 

Further reading

• “clamor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28