whisper
Americanverb (used without object)
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to speak with soft, hushed sounds, using the breath, lips, etc., but with no vibration of the vocal cords.
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Phonetics. to produce utterance substituting breath for phonation.
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to talk softly and privately (often implying gossip, slander, plotting, or the like).
The king knew that the courtiers were whispering.
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(of trees, water, breezes, etc.) to make a soft, rustling sound like that of whispering.
verb (used with object)
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to utter with soft, low sounds, using the breath, lips, etc..
He whispered endearments to her.
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Phonetics. to utter (speech sounds) substituting breath for phonation.
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to say or tell in a whisper; tell privately.
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to speak to or tell (a person) in a whisper or privately.
noun
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the mode of utterance, or the voice, of a person who whispers.
to speak in a whisper.
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a word or remark uttered by whispering.
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a rumor or insinuation.
Whispers circulated about the affair.
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a soft, rustling sound like a whisper.
the whisper of leaves in the wind.
verb
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to speak or utter (something) in a soft hushed tone, esp without vibration of the vocal cords
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(intr) to speak secretly or furtively, as in promoting intrigue, gossip, etc
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(intr) (of leaves, trees, etc) to make a low soft rustling sound
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(tr) to utter or suggest secretly or privately
to whisper treason
noun
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a low soft voice
to speak in a whisper
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something uttered in such a voice
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a low soft rustling sound
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a trace or suspicion
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informal a rumour or secret
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has whisperedperfect 3rd person singular
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have whisperedperfect
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have been whisperingperfect progressive
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has been whisperingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is whisperingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am whisperingprogressive 1st person singular
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are whisperingprogressive
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whisperssingular 3rd person
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whisperingparticiple
Past
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had whisperedperfect
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were whisperingprogressive plural
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had been whisperingperfect progressive
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whisperedparticiple
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was whisperingprogressive singular
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whisperedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of whisper
First recorded before 950; Middle English whisperen (verb), Old English hwisprian; akin to German wispern, Old Norse hviskra, hvīsla “to whistle”; cf. whine
Explanation
Psst! When you speak very quietly, so that hardly anyone can hear, you're whispering, or speaking in a whisper. A whisper is the opposite of a shout. When teachers talk about using your outside voice (when you're outside) and your inside voice (for speaking normally), the whisper is even quieter than the inside voice. This word can apply to other sounds too: you could say the wind is whispering. Whispers really do sound a lot like "Psst psst psst" to anyone who can't hear the exact words. You're likely to hear a lot of whispering in the library.
Vocabulary lists containing whisper
"Charlotte's Web": Chapter One
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Vocabulary from poems about communication
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Whisper it quietly: there is a new Rafa in town at the French Open.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
For "In a Whisper", Bouzid also delved into her own family history, filming in her late grandmother's house in the Tunisian city of Sousse.
From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026
In late 2022, the maker of ChatGPT started giving away unfettered acccess to its automatic speech recognition model called Whisper, trained on 680,000 hours of multilingual data.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026
Whisper it but there are some blue shoots of recovery.
From BBC • Sep. 28, 2025
"A girl whispers if she fears to speak aloud. Whisper it now. Is it Joffrey7."
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
