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
“Our approach is to listen to those who live and work in a neighborhood, then use every tool the city has to fix what they’ve told us is broken,” Stahl said.
From Los Angeles Times ● 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
He did not even listen to his beloved Bach on the gramophone.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
“It invites you. That’s the quiet truth at the heart of every listening bar: the room listens back.”
From Salon ● 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
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
His own heart pounds each time he listens to the BBC.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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
“Even for a kid who mostly listened to rap music, she was an icon. A superstar in every sense.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
“This kind of thing sometimes takes years, but until we are listened to, it will not stop. It will go forward—no matter what will happen.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
He watched their feet, and he listened to their voices with interest.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
So it also appears elected prosecutors were listening to voters in both directions.
From Slate ● 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
He told The Times in 2002 that he remembered thinking, “That sounds conversational, that they intend for me to be listening, that I’m smart enough to be listening,” when he first heard the show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 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
I did as I was told, listening to the squeak of hangers on the rack while Miss Lacey riffled through the clothes.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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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.
