mumble
- to speak in a low indistinct manner, almost to an unintelligible extent; mutter.
- to chew ineffectively, as from loss of teeth: to mumble on a crust.
- to say or utter indistinctly, as with partly closed lips: He mumbled something about expenses.
- to chew, or try to eat, with difficulty, as from loss of teeth.
- a low, indistinct utterance or sound.
Origin of mumble
Synonyms for mumble
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for mumble
Related Words for mumble
ramble, whisper, stammer, grumble, stutter, mutter, rumble, murmur, utter, voice, vocalize, whine, verbalize, whimper, swallow, maunder, talk, speakExamples from the Web for mumble
Contemporary Examples of mumble
Everywhere we go, inspiration hits us and we just kind of mumble things into our iPhones.
He defines Dynamic Inaction with one pithy aphorism: “When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.”
"The mumble could be passive aggressive—the person wants to have someone work very hard at hearing them," Batson says.
I wondered whether I should mumble that I had been raised by a German Lutheran.
During takeoff and landing, I mumble a short prayer that I learned long ago in Sunday school.
Historical Examples of mumble
His boastful accents died away into a mumble: "Dunno what I should do."
The Golden AgeKenneth Grahame
He squeezed my arm till he extorted from me some sort of mumble.
FalkJoseph Conrad
I understood his mumble to mean that "he didn't know any game."
FalkJoseph Conrad
Gone was the mumble, gone was every thought except the misery of the minute.
PhyllisDorothy Whitehill
When he would cry out to her his frozen lips could mumble no words.
Nan of Music MountainFrank H. Spearman
mumble
- to utter indistinctly, as with the mouth partly closed; mutter
- rare to chew (food) ineffectually or with difficulty
- an indistinct or low utterance or sound
Word Origin for mumble
Word Origin and History for mumble
early 14c., momelen, "to eat in a slow, ineffective manner" (perhaps "to talk with one's mouth full"), probably frequentative of interjection mum. The -b- is excrescent. Meaning "to speak indistinctly" is from mid-14c. Related: Mumbled; mumbling.
1902, from mumble (v.).