clarion

[ klar-ee-uhn ]

adjective

1. clear and shrill:

   the clarion call of a battle trumpet.

noun

1. an ancient trumpet with a curved shape.
2. the sound of this instrument.
3. any similar sound.

clarion

/ ˈklærɪən /

noun

1. a four-foot reed stop of trumpet quality on an organ
2. an obsolete, high-pitched, small-bore trumpet
3. the sound of such an instrument or any similar sound

adjective

1. prenominal clear and ringing; inspiring

   a clarion call to action

verb

1. to proclaim loudly

Word History and Origins

Origin of clarion¹

1275–1325; Middle English < Medieval Latin clāriōn- (stem of clāriō ) trumpet, equivalent to clār- clear + -iōn- -ion

Word History and Origins

Origin of clarion¹

C14: from Medieval Latin clāriō trumpet, from Latin clārus clear

Example Sentences

Let its latest much-praised British stage adaptation be a clarion call for a stint on Broadway.

From The Daily Beast

The National Front won its first-ever first-place finish nationally and sounded a clarion call across Europe.

From The Daily Beast

This is ground level reporting at its most important, at its most clarion.

From The Daily Beast

"The Third Jihad" was produced by a shadowy non-profit called the Clarion Fund, which now calls itself the Clarion Project.

From The Daily Beast

“We heard of the horns in the hills ringing”—that was how the poets of Rohan evoked the clarion call to action.

From The Daily Beast

Yet the Clarion opposes sweating and tyranny and hypocrisy, and does its best to defeat and to destroy them.

From Project Gutenberg

Like a clarion call the note rings in my ears, amidst the din of contending views and obscure phraseology.

From Project Gutenberg

We walked on so together to the spot where we first had met, and where first the thrush had sounded for us his elfin clarion.

From Project Gutenberg

He had unfolded the newspaper slowly and carefully, the sharp crackle of the paper would have been a clarion call to Agnes.

From Project Gutenberg

Three more steps will make a certain shot, and—out rang Jack's nasal clarion, loud and clear as the morte at a fox-chase.

From Project Gutenberg