blare
blare
Pronunciation
The IPA phonetic spelling for blare is /blɛər/.
The word is a single syllable with the following sound breakdown:
bl (/bl/): A consonant blend starting with the voiced bilabial stop /b/ (as in "bat") immediately followed by the voiced alveolar lateral approximant /l/ (as in "lid").
are (/ɛər/): An r-controlled vowel, similar to the sound in "care" or "hair."
Word Form Variations
Noun: blare (singular), blares (plural)
Verb: blare (infinitive), blares (third-person present), blared (past tense/past participle), blaring (present participle)
Adjective: blaring
Adverb: blaringly
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Noun
A loud, harsh, and often overwhelming sound. 📣
Synonyms: roar, blast, din, racket, clamor
Antonyms: whisper, murmur, hush, silence
Verb
(Intransitive) To emit a loud, harsh, and piercing sound.
Example: The car horn blared in the standstill traffic.
Synonyms: blast, roar, trumpet, honk, bellow
Antonyms: murmur, whisper, drone
(Transitive) To announce or broadcast something loudly and widely, often in an aggressive or unavoidable manner.
Example: The headlines blared the news of the unexpected victory.
Synonyms: proclaim, broadcast, trumpet, announce
Antonyms: hide, conceal, suppress
Examples of Use
In Literature
In Ray Bradbury's classic novel Fahrenheit 451, the word is used to create a sense of overwhelming, intrusive technology: "He felt the river pull him further on its course, into the darkness. Far down the river, he could see the city burning. It was not burning, it was warming. He could see the helicopters circling the city, their searchlights cutting the darkness. He could hear the distant blare of the beetle cars." (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)
In News and Online Publications
News articles often use "blare" to describe loud, attention-grabbing sounds in urban or emergency settings.
Example: "As the fire truck sped toward the emergency, its siren began to blare, warning drivers and pedestrians to clear the way." (The New York Times)
Example: "Residents complained about the club, citing loud music that would blare from its speakers late into the night, violating local noise ordinances." (The Guardian)
In Entertainment
Film & Television
The word is frequently used in screenplays and descriptions to set a chaotic or high-energy scene.
Example: In a typical action movie chase sequence, the script might describe how the hero's car radio continues to blare a rock anthem, creating a stark contrast with the screeching tires and blaring police sirens outside.
Music
Musicians incorporate the word into lyrics to evoke a feeling of freedom, rebellion, or simply a loud environment.
Example: In her song "National Anthem," Lana Del Rey sings, "Money is the reason we exist / Everybody knows it, it's a fact, kiss, kiss / I sing the national anthem / While I'm standing over your body / Hold you like a python / And you can't keep your hands off me / Or your pants on / See what you've done to me / King of Chevron / You said you'd be my leader / I'd be your GTO / We could go fast / Blare the radio." (Lana Del Rey, "National Anthem," 2012)
In General Public Discourse
In everyday conversation and on social media, "blare" is commonly used to complain about or describe unwanted noise.
Example: A user on X (formerly Twitter) might post: "Trying to enjoy a peaceful afternoon in the park, but someone is having a full-on party and letting their music blare for everyone to hear. 😠 #noise #publicspace"
10 Famous Quotes Using Blare
From the telescreen a brassy female voice blared out a patriotic song. (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four)
He could hear the distant blare of the beetle cars. (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451)
The air is thick with the blare of rock and roll. (Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
The television was on, a game show, and the sound was a blare of buzzers and fake laughter. (Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club)
The music from the house began to blare out into the night. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby)
Ludo Bagman’s magically magnified voice was to blare out from the mist, to tell them what was going on. (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
The radio began to blare a commercial for a used-car lot. (Stephen King, The Stand)
Music began to blare from the fiddles, and I was abruptly pulled into a wild dance. (Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses)
We could go fast, blare the radio. (Lana Del Rey, "National Anthem")
I feel so inarticulate, jukebox blare and smoke and sweat. (Queen, "Sheer Heart Attack")
Etymology
In simple terms, the word blare is a perfect example of onomatopoeia—it sounds just like the noise it describes. Its history is all about loud, raw sound.
The word first appeared in English around the 14th century. It was borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German, where words like blaren existed.
However, the original meaning was slightly different. At first, "blare" meant "to cry, wail, or roar," like a person weeping loudly or an animal bellowing in a field. The key idea has always been a powerful, unpleasant, and attention-grabbing sound.
Over the centuries, the meaning broadened. While it kept its core sense of a loud, harsh noise, it started being used for sounds made by objects, not just living things. By the 16th century, people were using it to describe the blast of a trumpet. From there, it was naturally applied to any similar noise—car horns, sirens, speakers, and radios turned up to full volume.
So, the word's journey was from a specific loud cry of distress to any kind of loud, piercing, and often unwelcome noise.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Blare
The blare of trumpets: A classic phrase describing the loud, ceremonial sound of trumpets, often signaling an important arrival or announcement.
On full blare: Used to describe music or a sound system turned up to its maximum volume.
Blaring headlines: A common metaphorical phrase for news that is presented in a sensational, unmissable, and often shocking way.
A blare of publicity: A sudden and overwhelming amount of media attention directed at a person, event, or product.
Lost in the blare: An original phrase describing the feeling of being overwhelmed by constant noise or a flood of information, making it impossible to focus.
To shout from the rooftops: An idiom with a similar effect, meaning to announce or proclaim something as loudly and publicly as possible.
To blow your own trumpet (or toot your own horn): An idiom for boasting about one's own achievements. It invokes the loud, attention-grabbing sound of a brass instrument.
The roar of the crowd: A phrase using a synonym to describe the immense, collective sound of a large audience, similar in its overwhelming nature to a blare.
Full blast: A very common idiom that means at maximum capacity, effort, or volume, functioning almost identically to "on full blare."
A blast from the past: While the meaning is different, this idiom uses a key synonym ("blast") to describe something that powerfully and suddenly reminds you of a time gone by.
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of blare from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
