- Today's Word
Cacophony
[kuh-KOF-uh-nee]
Definition
- (noun) A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds. It’s used to describe any loud, confusing, and unpleasant noise, often made up of many different sounds happening simultaneously.
Example
The city street was filled with a cacophony of car horns, construction work, and street vendors shouting, making it nearly impossible to hear oneself think.
Fun Fact
The word “cacophony” comes from the Greek words “kakos,” meaning “bad,” and “phone,” meaning “sound” or “voice.” It was first used in English in the 17th century to describe unpleasant sounds in music. Interestingly, its antonym is “euphony,” which describes pleasant or harmonious sounds. In literature, cacophony is sometimes used intentionally as a stylistic device to create a sense of chaos or discord, often through the use of words with harsh-sounding consonants or clashing vowels.
(verb) To criticize someone or something severely and publicly, often with harsh or scathing language.
The columnist excoriated the company’s leadership for ignoring repeated safety warnings.
Excoriate comes from the Latin excoriare, meaning “to strip off the skin,” from ex- (“off”) and corium (“hide” or “skin”). While the word originally described physical abrasion, its meaning shifted metaphorically over time to describe verbal attacks so harsh they feel skin-deep, leaving nothing protected.