clarion
Americanadjective
noun
-
an ancient trumpet with a curved shape.
-
the sound of this instrument.
-
any similar sound.
noun
-
a four-foot reed stop of trumpet quality on an organ
-
an obsolete, high-pitched, small-bore trumpet
-
the sound of such an instrument or any similar sound
adjective
verb
Etymology
Origin of clarion
1275–1325; Middle English < Medieval Latin clāriōn- (stem of clāriō ) trumpet, equivalent to clār- clear + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you hear the clarion call of the stage, it means you want to be an actor. Clarion means loud and clear, and a clarion call is a call to something that is hard to ignore. A clarion is a medieval horn with a clear sound. Hard to ignore, but also pure and clear in tone. There's nothing shrill about a "clarion call." Martin Luther King Jr.'s clarion call for all races in the U.S. to live together in peace and harmony has lived on after his death.
Vocabulary lists containing clarion
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Now I See! Synonyms for "Clear"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Xia’s clarion call, meanwhile, starts with robot-captured images of leaking barrels on the ocean floor.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025
And he raises an alarm, with clarion sharpness, about an authoritarian specter.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
And what - if anything - survives of the great outpouring of international support, whose clarion call in the days after the murders was Je suis Charlie?
From BBC • Jan. 6, 2025
Thurman’s story needs to be a clarion call to physicians to act on behalf of our patients, no matter where they live.
From Slate • Sep. 18, 2024
No high-res shots of little Nate Foster scurrying around the Christmas tree, belting “Santa Baby” in a clarion, silver soprano.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
