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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

screed.

A piece of writing (such as an article, letter, or list) or a speech, especially if long.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skɹiːd/Ireland, Received-Pronunciation/skɹid/General-American, Scotland
  1. A piece of writing (such as an article, letter, or list) or a speech, especially if long.

  2. A speech or piece of writing which contains angry and extended criticism.

    broadly
  3. Chiefly in the plural form screeds: a large quantity.

  4. Senses relating to building construction and masonry. A tool, usually a long strip of wood or other material, placed on a floor to be covered with concrete, a wall to be plastered, etc., as a guide for producing a smooth, flat surface.

  5. Senses relating to building construction and masonry. A tool such as a long strip of wood or other material which is drawn over a wet layer of concrete, plaster, etc., to make it smooth and flat; also, a machine that achieves this effect; a screeder.

  6. Senses relating to building construction and masonry. A smooth, flat layer of concrete, plaster, or similar material, especially if acting as a base for paving stones, tiles, wooden planks, etc.

  7. A piece or narrow strip cut or torn off from a larger whole; a shred.

    Ireland · Newfoundland · Scotland · dated
  8. A piece of land, especially one that is narrow.

    Scotland · UK · dated · regional
  9. A rent, a tear.

    Northern-England · Northern-Ireland · Scotland · dated
Where this word comes from

From Middle English screde [and other forms], a variant of shrede (“fragment, scrap; strip of cloth; strip cut off from a larger piece; band or thread woven into fabric; element, streak”) (whence shred (noun)), from Old English sċrēad, sċrēade (“a piece cut off; paring, shred”), from Proto-Germanic *skraudō (“a piece, shred; a cut, crack”), from *skraudaną (“to cut up, shred”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”). The English word is cognate with Old Frisian skrēd. Doublet of escrow, scroll, and shred.

verb/skɹiːd/Ireland, Received-Pronunciation/skɹid/General-American, Scotland
  1. To rend, to shred, to tear.

    Northern-England · Northern-Ireland · Scotland · dated · transitive
  2. To read or repeat from memory fluently or glibly; to reel off.

    Scotland · also · dated · figuratively · transitive
  3. To use a screed to produce a smooth, flat surface of concrete, plaster, or similar material; also (generally) to put down a layer of concrete, plaster, etc.

    transitive
  4. To become rent or torn.

    Scotland · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English screde, Early Middle English screda, a variant of shreden, shrede (“to chop, cut up, hack; to cut to shape; to maim, wound; to prune, trim”) [and other forms] (whence shred (verb)), from Old English scrēadian (“to cut up, shred; to cut off, prune”), from Proto-Germanic *skraudaną (“to cut up, shred”), see further at etymology 1; later uses are derived from the noun screed.

noun/skɹiːd/Ireland, Received-Pronunciation/skɹid/General-American, Scotland
  1. A (discordant) sound or tune played on bagpipes, a fiddle, or a pipe.

    Northern-Ireland · Scotland · humorous
  2. The sound of something scratching or tearing.

    Northern-Ireland · Scotland
Where this word comes from

Probably imitative; compare screech, skreigh.

verb/skɹiːd/Ireland, Received-Pronunciation/skɹid/General-American, Scotland
  1. To play bagpipes, a fiddle, or a pipe.

    Northern-Ireland · Scotland · humorous · intransitive · rare
  2. To make a discordant or harsh scratching or tearing sound.

    Northern-Ireland · Scotland · intransitive · rare
  3. To play (a sound or tune) on bagpipes, a fiddle, or a pipe.

    Northern-Ireland · Scotland · humorous · obsolete · rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

Probably imitative; compare screech, skreigh.

adj/skɹiːd/Ireland, Received-Pronunciation/skɹid/General-American, Scotland
  1. Strewn with scree.

    Northern-Ireland · Scotland · not-comparable · rare
    We clambered up a screed slope.
Where this word comes from

From scree (“loose, stony debris”) + -ed.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.