fricative

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A consonant, such as f or s in English, produced by the forcing of breath through a constricted passage. Also called spirant.
2. adj. Of, relating to, or being a fricative consonant.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Characterized by friction: said of those alphabetic sounds in which the conspicuous element is a rustling of the breath through a partly opened position of the organs, as s and sh, z and zh, f and v, th and Ŧh, and so on. They are sometimes divided into subclasses, as sibilants, like s and sh, and spirants, like f and verb
2. Sounded by friction, as certain musical instruments. See instrument, 3 .
3. n. A fricative consonant. See I., 1.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several sounds produced by air flowing through a constriction in the oral cavity and typically producing a sibilant, hissing, or buzzing quality; a fricative consonant. English F and S are fricatives.
2. adj. produced by air flowing through a restriction in the oral cavity.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. adj. Produced by the friction or rustling of the breath, intonated or unintonated, through a narrow opening between two of the mouth organs; uttered through a close approach, but not with a complete closure, of the organs of articulation, and hence capable of being continued or prolonged; -- said of certain consonantal sounds, as f, v, s, z, etc.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a continuant consonant produced by breath moving against a narrowing of the vocal tract
2. adj. of speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f', `s', `z', or `th' in both `thin' and `then')