Word.ws English Dictionary

nails on a chalkboard

nails on a chalkboard noun: something that sounds very unpleasant.

Noun

nails on a chalkboard (uncountable)

  1. Something that sounds very unpleasant.
    • That's funny because I hated Randy's voice until I saw that movie. It was nails on a chalkboard until I heard "My Greatest Fear" that song is very pretty, IMO.2000 May 2, Christopher John, “country singers who turned to acting”, in rec.music.country.western (Usenet)
    • aside from country music (which is nails on a chalkboard to me, lol) and what my son and I call 'pop drivel a la Backstreet Boys, and N'Stink.....I will listen to, and probably enjoy most anything.2001 February 17, mrs_cal, “Why do you post here?”, in alt.support.divorce (Usenet)

Questions about nails on a chalkboard

What does nails on a chalkboard mean?
Nails on a chalkboard means something that sounds very unpleasant.
What part of speech is nails on a chalkboard?
Nails on a chalkboard is a noun.

Words near nails on a chalkboard in the dictionary

  1. nailrod
  2. nails
  3. nails down
  4. nails it
  5. nails Jell-O to a wall
  6. nails on a chalkboard
  7. nails one's colours to the mast
  8. nails someone to the wall
  9. nails the hammer on the head
  10. nails to the counter
  11. Nailsea

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nails on a chalkboard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nails on a chalkboard.wav.

Cite this entry: “nails on a chalkboard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nails_on_a_chalkboard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.