piercing
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- penetrating, ear-splitting, high-pitched, loud, sharp, shrill
- keen, alert, penetrating, perceptive, perspicacious, quick-witted, sharp, shrewd
- cold, arctic, biting, bitter, freezing, nippy, wintry
- sharp, acute, agonizing, excruciating, intense, painful, severe, stabbing

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English Thesaurus: high, tall, majestic, soaring, towering, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. pierc‧ing¹ /ˈpɪəsɪŋ $ ˈpɪr-/ adjective

1. EYES/LOOK literary someone with piercing eyes is looking at you and seems to know what you are thinking:
There was mockery now in those piercing blue eyes.
She felt foolish and unsure under his piercing gaze.
He gave her a piercing look.

2. SOUND a sound that is piercing is high, sharp, and unpleasant:
He grinned and let out a piercing whistle.
a piercing scream

3. WIND a piercing wind is very cold

4. PAIN causing a lot of pain:
She felt a piercing sensation in her arm.

5. EMOTION [only before noun] affecting your feelings very deeply in a sad way:
a piercing moment of regret
—piercingly adverb:
It was piercingly cold.
She looked at him piercingly.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. piercing² noun [uncountable and countable]
a hole made through part of your body so that you can put jewellery there, or the process of making these holes

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

high measuring a long distance from the bottom to the top – used about mountains, walls, and buildings:
the highest mountain in the world
The castle was surrounded by high walls.
a high cliff
The council told the architects the tower was too high.
tall high – used about people, trees, plants, and buildings. Tall is used especially about things that are high and narrow:
tall marble columns
A cat was hiding in the tall grass.
a tall modern building
majestic especially written very impressive because of being very big and tall – used about mountains, buildings, trees, and animals:
the majestic mountains of the Himalayas
The abbey is noted for its majestic arches, fine doorways and elegant windows.
The cathedral looked majestic in the evening light.
soaring [only before noun] especially written used about a building or mountain that looks extremely tall and impressive:
a soaring skyscraper
the soaring towers of the palace
towering [only before noun] especially written extremely high, in a way that seems impressive but also often rather frightening:
The sky was shut out by the towering walls of the prison.
towering trees
lofty [usually before noun] literary very high and impressive – used in literature:
the lofty peaks in the far distance
high-rise [usually before noun] a high-rise building is a tall modern building with a lot of floors containing apartments or offices:
a high-rise apartment block
He works in a high-rise office in New York.
tall person/tree/plant/building/tower/statue
high-pitched higher than most sounds or voices:
He has a rather high-pitched voice.
Bats make high-pitched squeaks.
the high-pitched whine of a dentist's drill
shrill high and unpleasant:
Her voice became more shrill.
The bird has rather a shrill cry.
piercing extremely high and loud, in a way that is unpleasant:
a piercing scream
Suddenly I heard a piercing whistle.
squeaky making very high noises that are not loud:
a squeaky gate
squeaky floorboards
a squeaky little voice

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

loud making a lot of noise – used about sounds, voices, or music:
a loud explosion
He was talking in a very loud voice.
The music was too loud.
noisy making a lot of noise – used about people, machines, and places that annoy you:
The traffic was so noisy.
noisy neighbours
a noisy bar
rowdy rowdy people behave in a noisy and uncontrolled way. A rowdy place such as a bar is full of noisy people, often behaving badly:
rowdy football fans
a rowdy bar
raucous /ˈrɔːkəs $ ˈrɒː-/ especially written unpleasantly loud – used about the excited sound of groups of people:
raucous laughter
raucous crowds
resounding [only before noun] used to describe a loud noise when something hits another thing, that seems to continue for a few seconds. Also used about people cheering or shouting loudly:
The door hit the wall with a resounding crash.
a resounding cheer
thunderous extremely loud and deep in sound:
His remarks received thunderous applause from the audience.
deafening /ˈdefənɪŋ/ so loud that you cannot hear anything else:
The noise was deafening – like a thousand fireworks going off at one time.
People living near airports suffer the deafening sound of aircraft taking off and landing.
ear-splitting so loud that your ears feel uncomfortable:
He played the music at ear-splitting volume.
piercing extremely loud, high, and unpleasant to hear:
a piercing scream
thunderous applause

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲