noisy

From noise +‎ -y.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔɪzi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔːɪzɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪzi

noisy (comparative noisier, superlative noisiest)

1. Making a noise, especially a loud unpleasant sound

   Synonyms: clamorous, vociferous, turbulent, boisterous

   the noisy crowd.

   • 1981, Norman Del Mar, Anatomy of the Orchestra:

     For obvious reasons the percussion is normally arranged along the back of the platform, whether centrally or to one side, and sometimes also in two tiers, the heavy, noisier instruments behind, and the pitched, agile instruments such as vibraphone, marimba, etc. in front. An outstanding exception, however, exists in Roberto Gerhard's Epithalamion where the composer expressly desired that the all-important kitchen department be spread out in front of the strings and hence nearest the audience.

2. Full of noise.

   a noisy bar

   • 1871, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the French and Italian note-books:

     This market is the noisiest and swarmiest centre of noisy and swarming Florence, and I always like to pass through it on that account.

3. Unpleasant-looking and causing unwanted attention

   noisy clothes

4. (technical) Accompanied by or introducing random fluctuations that obscure the real signal or data
   • 2024 March 28, Nate Silver, “How culture trumps economic class as the new political fault line”, in Silver Bulletin‎^[1]:

     Looked at more carefully, and over a longer time period, the relationship between the economy and the incumbent’s performance is positive, but noisy. “The incumbent wins when the economy is good” is a useful, weak prior, but not an iron law, and one that historically has had many exceptions.

• “noisy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• yonis