Meaning & use
bellowing
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Meanings
noununcountable
A very loud, deep shout or roar, often made in anger, pain, or to be heard over a distance.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: the bellowing went on for hours.
Patterns
- the bellowing of someone/something
The bellowing of the bull echoed across the valley.
We could hear angry bellowing coming from the kitchen.
The coach's constant bellowing made the young players nervous.
adjectivebefore a noun
Making a loud, deep, roaring noise, or shouting in a booming voice.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a bellowing crowd.
Patterns
- a bellowing voice
- a bellowing animal
A bellowing cow stood by the fence waiting to be milked.
He gave the bellowing crowd a nervous wave.
The bellowing foghorn warned the ships of the rocks.
verbtransitive or intransitive
The -ing form of bellow: shouting or calling out in a deep, powerful voice, especially when angry or in pain.
Grammar: No object when just making noise (he was bellowing); with an object when shouting words (bellowing orders).
Patterns
- bellowing at someone
- bellowing something
The sergeant was bellowing orders across the training field.
She stood at the bottom of the stairs bellowing for her son.
The man kept bellowing at the referee until he was removed.
Common combinations
- angry bellowing
- Angry bellowing came from the barn.
- bellowing with rage
- He stormed out, bellowing with rage.
- bellowing at someone
- There was no point in bellowing at the printer.
- bellowing orders
- The captain stood on deck bellowing orders to the crew.
- a bellowing voice
- A bellowing voice called us in for dinner.
Synonyms and how they differ
- roaring
- Roaring can describe lions, engines, or crowds and suggests continuous deep noise, while bellowing is more tied to a person or large animal.
- yelling
- Yelling is a general loud shout and can be high-pitched, whereas bellowing is deeper and more forceful.
- booming
- Booming describes a deep resonant sound without necessarily implying anger, which bellowing often does.
- bawling
- Bawling can mean loud crying or shouting and suggests a rougher, more tearful sound than bellowing.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: bellowing or bellows?
bellowing vs bellows
Bellows (a noun used with singular or plural verbs) is a tool for blowing air onto a fire; it is not the same as the verb bellows, meaning shouts loudly.
Practice
The farmer woke to the ___ of a cow that had lost its calf.
Choose one answer.
Bellowing is a loud, deep, distressed cry that suits a large animal in pain or alarm. The other options are quiet sounds.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bellowing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.