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:
Because Warsh hasn’t narrated the committee’s thinking in the way his predecessors often did, investors now have to listen more carefully to everyone else, said Claudia Sahm, a former Fed economist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
As you very well know, Dahlia, I have been trying to have this conversation with anyone who would listen for years.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
Still, there’s real value in leaving home and finding a place to listen — not simply hear, but listen —alongside strangers who love the art and spirit of music as much as you do.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026
"If you don't listen to me, how can you come and kill my business, destroy my family's, my livelihood?" he asked.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
It was huge and complicated, with angry dogs who didn’t listen, and many of the Bright Beasts-that-Bite-Hot.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Scrolling through a "relaxing jazz piano playlist" with over 370,000 saves on Spotify, he spots that top featured artists that rack up hundreds of thousands of monthly listens have unverified accounts.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
She often talks faster than I can listen, and listens faster than I can talk, grasping my meaning before I finish a sentence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
If the above sounds familiar, then you might already be a Wholigan — someone who routinely listens to the long-running celebrity podcast “Who? Weekly.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Anyone who listens to this single on Cyrus’ 2017 album, “Younger Now,” can hear Parton’s bubbly voice behind that of her goddaughter, nestled between samples of phone messages the legend left for the pop songstress.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
I think He’s a God who listens as if we are his most important children, and I think He speaks to tell us so.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
"I feel like our voices have been heard; fellow motorists like myself have been listened to," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
It is a rallying cry coined by Frelick as a way to remind Milwaukee’s hitters to make every at-bat a fight—and they have listened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
The minister said he had listened to their concerns.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026
While waiting for the magic to start, we listened to the hi-hat riff of ice cubes click-clacking as Stotler worked a cocktail shaker.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2026
He called the preacher, who listened to the story and let my pa stay at his place for a while.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
So it also appears elected prosecutors were listening to voters in both directions.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
He later noted that listening to Chuwi while living in Los Angeles was a small part of what spurred him to make that album — and invite the band for a feature.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
Others have reported difficulty listening to chewing, groaning and one character’s saucy burp.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
And despite the deluge of AI music, external - Spotify says it has removed 75 million "spammy tracks" from its catalogue - real music still makes up most of our listening.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
Not listening for the tree to tell me something, but just to be there with it.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
