whisper

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Saying what he said next, he continued to whisper, but in his whisper was a suggestion of the proprietorial tone.

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Definitions (28)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. noun Soft speech produced without full voice.
  2. noun Something uttered very softly.
  3. noun A secretly or surreptitiously expressed belief, rumor, or hint: whispers of scandal.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Not that secrets can't be shared at high noon in the middle of the Smithville town square--a whisper is still a whisper, any time of day--but he's long since accepted the fact that most respectable people don't want to be seen with him. —  Omni: August 1994
  • It was a whisper, and his lips touched her neck, light as a whisper, yet the touch seared her. —  Chase, Loretta - Knave's Wager
  • He was, through a vocal freak, unable to whisper; his efforts at a whisper were about as secretive as a B29 buzzing a farmhouse. —  157 - Terror And The Lonely Widow
  • Close in; out cutlasses and up and have her Softly as his whisper was uttered it was heard upon the lugger by the watchful smugglers. —  In the King's Name The Cruise of the "Kestrel"
  • Tabby, that is making humility go a little too far IV WOMEN AS LOVERS In every clime and country There lives a Man of Pain Whose nerves, like chords of lightning Bring fire into his brain To him a whisper is a wound A look or sneer, a blow More pangs he feels in years or months Than dunce-throng'd ages know I have had such a curious experience. —  The Love Affairs of an Old Maid
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

murmur ·  laugh ·  sigh ·  cry ·  tone ·  chuckle ·  hiss ·  sound ·  rustle ·  breath ·  rush ·  wail

Used in the same contextWord Family

whisper:   whispers ·  whispered ·  whispering
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Middle English whisperen, to whisper, from Old English hwisprian.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English whisperen, whysperen, whispren, hwispren, whisper, from Anglo-Saxon (Old Northumbrian) hwisprian, whisper, murmur, = Middle Dutch wisperen, Dutch wispelen, whisper, = Old High German wispalōn, hwispalōn, Middle High German G. wispeln, whisper; cf. recent G. wispern, whisper; allied to Icelandic hvīskra = Swedish hviska = Danish hviske, whisper; imitative words, like whister, whistle, Anglo-Saxon hwistlian and hwæstrian, whistle, ult. from the sibilant base hwis-. Cf. whistle.
  2. from whisper, v.
 

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/ˈhwɪspər/
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