hear
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to perceive by the ear.
Didn't you hear the doorbell?
- Synonyms:
- attend
-
to learn by the ear or by being told; be informed of.
to hear news.
- Synonyms:
- attend
-
to listen to; give or pay attention to.
They refused to hear our side of the argument.
-
to be among the audience at or of (something).
to hear a recital.
- Synonyms:
- attend
-
to give a formal, official, or judicial hearing to (something); consider officially, as a judge, sovereign, teacher, or assembly.
to hear a case.
-
to take or listen to the evidence or testimony of (someone).
to hear the defendant.
-
to listen to with favor, assent, or compliance.
- Antonyms:
- disregard
-
(of a computer) to perceive by speech recognition.
verb (used without object)
-
to be capable of perceiving sound by the ear; have the faculty of perceiving sound vibrations.
-
to receive information by the ear or otherwise.
to hear from a friend.
-
to listen with favor, assent, or compliance (often followed byof ).
I will not hear of your going.
-
(of a computer) to be capable of perceiving by speech recognition.
-
(used as an interjection in the phrase Hear! Hear! to express approval, as of a speech.)
verb
-
(tr) to perceive (a sound) with the sense of hearing
-
(tr; may take a clause as object) to listen to
did you hear what I said?
-
to be informed (of); receive information (about)
to hear of his success
have you heard?
-
law to give a hearing to (a case)
-
to listen (to) with favour, assent, etc
she wouldn't hear of it
-
to receive a letter, news, etc (from)
-
an exclamation used to show approval of something said
-
dialect to be told (about); learn (of)
Synonym Usage
Hear, listen apply to the perception of sound. To hear is to have such perception by means of the auditory sense: to hear distant bells. To listen is to give attention in order to hear and understand the meaning of a sound or sounds: to listen to what is being said; to listen for a well-known footstep.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hearsimple
-
hearssimple
-
have heardperfect
-
has heardperfect
-
am hearingprogressive
-
are hearingprogressive
-
is hearingprogressive
-
have been hearingperfect progressive
-
has been hearingperfect progressive
Past
-
heardsimple
-
had heardperfect
-
was hearingprogressive
-
were hearingprogressive
-
had been hearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hear
First recorded before 950; Middle English heren, Old English hēran, hīeran; cognate with Dutch horen, German hören, Old Norse heyra, Gothic hausjan; perhaps akin to Greek akoúein ( see acoustic)
Explanation
When you hear, you perceive a noise made by someone or something — like a person’s voice, the song of a bird, or the torturous sound of a ticking clock on a sleepless night. While hear generally means to perceive a noise, it has several senses, including to listen carefully, as to a story. If you hear from someone, they have contacted you in some way, such as by phone call, email, or even snail mail. A judge will also hear a case when she presides over a trial. And when you hear the news, you’ve gotten information or found something out. But you didn’t hear it from me.
Vocabulary lists containing hear
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:
Back then, Supreme Court justices “rode circuit”—they literally rode horses or traveled by carriage to hear cases within the circuit they oversaw.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Mid-listen, you can tap a button, ask your question, hear the answer, and then pick up the story right where you left off.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
"We'd wait the whole week to hear one Hindi song," Nirmala says.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
“So I can only go by what he and the training staff are telling me. So, unless I hear otherwise, that hitting compromises his health, then I’m going to keep putting him in the lineup.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
I say it, but this time when I hear myself say it, it sounds a bit far-fetched, even to me.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
In the training sessions she carries out for businesses, she says she hears from the employer's perspective that it can feel like "every other conversation is about people wanting support".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
But she says that after mental-performance training, she hears, “This has helped me find my passion again.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The rookie quarterback hears his own voice on audio recordings as he recites the team’s play calls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Showing up at these hearings is one of the best ways for both tenants and landlords to ensure the board hears their testimony.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
“Traffic noise and all. It’s the only crowd scene he knows, so he uses it to answer whenever he hears a crowd. You know, to get somebody in here to pay attention to him.”
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
Henderson said he was "absolutely fantastic" to work with and that it was "such a shock" when he heard about his death.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
“The trend is going in the direction of what we heard from Rahm Emanuel on his visit here.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
"I have not heard any negative opinions ... everyone is rather satisfied," Renata Golebiewska, mayor of Kikol, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
The court also heard how families had to go through a second funeral, with several questioning whether it had been legitimate.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
When I heard her yawn, I told her she could go to bed.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
It is something I keep hearing shoppers say when I ask them whether they shop at the fast-fashion giant.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Greenspan personally praised “subprime loans” in his April 8, 2005 remarks at the Fed’s Fourth Annual Community Affairs Research Conference—which I distinctly remember hearing on the radio.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Among those gathered to listen was Leticia Lopez, a 65-year-old South Pasadena resident whose voice trembled as she talked about the impact of hearing about another arrest or death tied to enforcement operations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
“Why couldn’t she just say no? She’s an evil person,” Lopez wrote in a statement presented at Carlos’ sentencing hearing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
There was no way that I could avoid hearing of the baby’s birth while in the company of other people.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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.
