listen
Americanverb (used without object)
-
listens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
listened,
past participle, past
-
listening
present participle
-
to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
-
to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed byto ).
Children don't always listen to their parents.
-
to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed byfor ).
to listen for sounds of their return.
-
Informal. to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound.
The new recording doesn't listen as well as the old one.
verb (used with object)
-
listens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
listened,
past participle, past
-
listening
present participle
verb phrase
verb
-
to concentrate on hearing something
-
to take heed; pay attention
I told you many times but you wouldn't listen
Synonym Usage
See hear.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
listensimple
-
listenssimple
-
have listenedperfect
-
has listenedperfect
-
am listeningprogressive
-
are listeningprogressive
-
is listeningprogressive
-
have been listeningperfect progressive
-
has been listeningperfect progressive
Past
-
listenedsimple
-
had listenedperfect
-
was listeningprogressive
-
were listeningprogressive
-
had been listeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of listen
First recorded before 950; Middle English lis(t)nen, Old English hlysnan; cognate with Middle High German lüsenen, Swedish lyssna; akin to list 5
Explanation
If you really listen late at night after everyone's asleep, you'll hear the noises your house makes — the creaking of walls and floors, the hum of the refrigerator, the banging of the radiators. When you listen to something, you don't just hear it, but you really pay attention to the sounds. You can listen to music, listen for the sound of your guests arriving, or listen to the advice your grandfather gives you. The phrase listen in means to eavesdrop on, or deliberately overhear, a conversation. The t in the middle of the word listen is silent (you can't hear it even if you listen).
Vocabulary lists containing listen
Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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Part 1 Vocabulary (Unit 3)
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Spelling Practice, Unit 7
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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.
See Examples For:
At a cafe in the small Nebraska town of Arapahoe, a handful of residents listen to Dan Osborn, a 51-year-old Navy veteran running as an independent for the US Senate.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
Her advice to communicate well in the workplace is to "listen to what's being asked and take a breath or five" before responding.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
You can watch the video here, or listen on Apple or Spotify.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
“You are the only person I know who could get me to listen to a Sleater-Kinney spinoff. But I will. Now that you’ve told me to.”
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Callaway called on Corban, and I sat forward to listen.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
He listens to them, as they navigate their complicated feelings, closely tracking the way their intersecting paths lead them toward incremental revelation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
The production team unearthed reel-to-reel recordings of that performance more than 40 years ago, and they will be woven into the new production as his character listens back to echoes of his younger self.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
The influencer said when people find out that she listens to Owens, they often mock her and call her a conspiracy theorist.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
As for the research itself, the data suggests Gen Z listens to broadcast radio far more than you might expect in the streaming era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
McGovern listens to Wilkins’ urgent whispers and then turns to scan the rows of students with worried eyes.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
A woman who had listened to me and offered guidance about raising children at a time when I had none.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
“You were even more fortunate if you engaged him in conversation or listened to his analysis, because he never failed to boost your love of the game of hockey.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Dave Marsh was born in Flint, Michigan, where his dad worked on the railroad and did not appreciate the length of his son’s hair or the music he listened to.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Several weeks ago, Brown listened to a supposed recruiter pitch a Florida property-management job that “seemed off because it was too perfect.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
For a good hour, we sat and listened to Mama read about how the Lord opened up the sea and let the good people walk over to the other side.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
It also showed me a larger, broader landscape and a way of thinking existed, not just for Springsteen, but for all of the other music I was listening to.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Hemphill recalled listening to a wide range of music in his youth—from country to jazz to blues to classical—and a passion for each is evident in his compositions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
Jodi Fournier spent 15 days at the courthouse - sitting, listening and waiting.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Wakeful rest can include activities such as daydreaming, drawing, listening to music, or chatting with friends, which can promote learning.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
Then I had to get going because the brook can keep you busy for a whole day just listening, and I had one more place I needed to go.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
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.
