clarion means an unincorporated community in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. It carries an Arena rating of 1783, earned across 14 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, clarion ranks #412 of 42,791 for Qualifying, #1,845 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,943 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,121 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words.
clarion is pronounced /ˈklæ.ɹɪ.ən/.
Why “clarion” is a great word
A high, piercing medieval trumpet used as a battle signal, or by extension, any sound or message of brilliant, compelling clarity. From Middle English clarion, from Old French claron, clarïon, from Medieval Latin clāriōn, clario, clārōn ("clarion, trumpet"), from Latin clārus ("clear, distinct, loud"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- ("to call, summon"); first attested in English in the early 14th century. Unlike a "trumpet"—a broad family of brass instruments, often curved for harmony—or a "muffled" sound—subdued and indistinct—a clarion is defined by its sharp-edged urgency and unambiguous penetration. It is the silver needle of sound that stitches through the din of combat, the headline that cuts through morning’s static, the sudden ring of a struck bell across frozen fields—a summons that, in its very clarity, feels like a moral force, leaving no room for doubt, only action.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English clarion, clarioun (“trumpet with a narrow tube and a shrill sound, clarion; clarion player”) [and other forms], from Old French claron, clarïon (“clarion”) [and other forms], from Medieval Latin clāriōn, clario, clārōn (“clarion; trumpet”), from Latin clārus (“audible; clear, distinct, loud; (visually) bright, clear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, summon; to cry”). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
name
- An unincorporated community in Bureau County, Illinois, United States.
- A city, the county seat of Wright County, Iowa, United States.
- A borough, the county seat of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, United States.
- A ghost town in Sanpete County, Utah, United States.
- A river in Pennsylvania, a tributary of the Allegheny River.
adj
- Of a sound, a voice, a message, etc.: brilliantly clear.e.g.“her clarion top notes”
noun
- A medieval brass instrument chiefly used as a battle signal; related to the trumpet, it had a narrow, straight pipe and a high-pitched, piercing sound.e.g.“The clarion’s call to action has been heard.”
- The sound of a clarion (sense 1), or any sound resembling the loud, high-pitched note of a clarion.
- An organ stop consisting of pipes with reeds giving a high-pitched note like that of a clarion (sense 1).
- The middle register of the clarinet.
- A charge thought to represent a type of wind instrument, a keyboard instrument like a spinet, or perhaps a rest used by a knight to support a lance during jousting.
verb
- To announce or herald (something) using a clarion (noun sense 1).
- To announce or herald (something) using a clarion (noun sense 1).; To announce or herald (something) clearly, especially so as to stir or unite people.e.g.“His deep voice clarioned the words and he paused, hearing them whisper away into their last faint echoes in the organ loft.” — 1946, Rebecca Rogers, They Ask for Bread, New York, N.Y.: Rockport Press Publishers, →OCLC, page 16:
- Of a thing: to cause (a place) to echo with a sound like that of a clarion.e.g.“Sir Knight, thy glory clarioneth the heavens.” — 1833, [Richard Henry Horne], “Of Composers, and Instrumental Performers”, in Exposition of the False Medium and Barriers Excluding Men of Genius from the Public, London: Effingham Wilson, […], →OCLC,
- To sound a clarion; also, to make a high-pitched, piercing sound like that of a clarion.e.g.“[T]hou, young-bodied morn, / In-ushered by the puffed winds clarioning, / No bond can bind.” — 1883, [Ronald Roth], “The Judgment of Tithonus”, in Edgar or the New Pygmalion; and The Judgment of Tithonus, Madras, Tamil Nadu: Higginbotham and Co. […], →OCLC, scene ii, page 23:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- clarionet 69% match — A clarinet. vs clarion →
- clarino 63% match — A reed stop in an organ. vs clarion →
- cornet 61% match — A musical instrument of the brass family, slightly smaller than a trumpet, usually in the musical key of B-flat. vs clarion →
- clairon 61% match — the second register of a clarinet. vs clarion →
- cornetto 60% match — A trumpet-like wind instrument used in European music of the medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. vs clarion →
- carnyx 59% match — A bronze wind instrument used by Iron Age Celts (c. 200 B.C.E. – 200 C.E.) as a type of battle trumpet; held vertically when played, it was shaped like an elongated S with a mouthpiece at the lower end and a bell (often resembling an animal with an open mouth) at the upper end. vs clarion →
- clarinet 59% match — A woodwind musical instrument that has a distinctive liquid tone whose characteristics vary among its three registers: chalumeau (low), clarion (medium), and altissimo (high). vs clarion →
- claribella 58% match — An organ stop with a soft, fluty sound. vs clarion →