lenis
Americanadjective
noun
-
lenes
plural
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lenis
First recorded in 1925–30; from Latin: “soft, mild, gentle”
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:
With a normal attack—the spiritus lenis in contradistinction to the spiritus asper—the glottis is in position for phonation at the moment breath passes through it.
From The Voice Its Production, Care and Preservation by Frank E. Miller
Remarks.—Twenty-one animals obtained from Lynndyl, Millard County, are all intergrades between lenis and aureiventris.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
If the phrase that is to be sung commences with a word beginning with an initial vowel, care must be taken to employ the normal coup de glotte, or spiritus lenis.
From The Voice Its Production, Care and Preservation by Frank E. Miller
In six other characters studied they most closely approach lenis to which they are here referred.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
They are exceeded in total length only by T. b. lenis and are approached by T. b. aureiventris and T. b. planirostris.
From The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1 Kansas University Publications. by Stephen D. Durrant
Chief exhorter of the Victoria Char lenes, Mme.
From Time Magazine Archive
Both pairs were used to express the lenes medially between vowels.
From A Middle High German Primer Third Edition by Joseph Wright
Men become under its subduing dietary influence, "lenti et lenes."
From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie
A further peculiarity of Scottish Gaelic is that it substitutes lenes or voiceless mediae for the voiced stops, and even l, r, n sounds show a great tendency to give up the voice.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 5 "Cat" to "Celt" by Various
How the so-called aspirates differ from their corresponding lenes has not yet been determined.
From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
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.
