murmur

To murmur is to make a continuous, low, and indistinct sound. Such a sound can be called a murmur. Examples include the sound of water in a stream, the wind through the trees, and the low, muffled sound of a TV in another room.

This is the way the word is used in the phrase the murmur of the crowd, which refers to the collective sound of a lot of people talking at once. In contrast, the roar of the crowd refers to collective cheering and is much louder.

Murmur also means to say something in a low tone that can’t be easily understood. Similar words are mutter and mumble. Murmuring in this way is often done to express discontent with whatever one is talking about.

The thing that’s said can be called a murmur. This sense of murmur can also be used in a more figurative way to refer to a private expression of discontent, as in There were murmurs about a strike.  

In the context of medicine, murmur is a short form of the term heart murmur, referring to an abnormal sound heard when listening to a heartbeat with a stethoscope (such a sound may indicate the presence of deformation in the heart valves).

Example: The endless murmur of the creek was as good as a lullaby, soothing me to sleep.

The first records of the word murmur come from around the 1300s. It comes from the Latin word murmurāre, meaning “to mutter,” “to make a gentle sound,” “to roar,” or “to grumble.” Murmur is thought to be based on onomatopoeia, which is the formation of a word by imitation of a sound.

In other words, murmur sounds like the thing it describes. When the people in a crowd all talk at the same time, you don’t hear the individual voices or conversations. Instead, you can only hear the murmur—the indistinct, collective chatter of all those voices combined. If you tried to imitate that sound, it may sound a bit like murmurmurmurmurmur.

What are some other forms of murmur?

• murmuring (continuous tense verb, noun)
• murmurer (noun)
• murmurous (adjective)

What are some synonyms for murmur?

• mutter
• mumble
• grumble
• buzz
• hum
• muttering
• rumble

What are some words that share a root or word element with murmur? 

• murmuration
• heart murmur

What are some words that often get used in discussing murmur?

• crowd
• nature
• whisper
• talk
• low
• soft
• indistinct

Murmur is commonly used as a both a verb and a noun. Most of its senses involve a low, indistinct sound.

My dad sees CNN discussing Bieber, starts yeling "Just put him in jail. And be done with it" walks away murmuring something about junk on TV

— Jana (@kasperka) January 23, 2014

We're nearly underway in Hawaii. Both teams take the field to the roar … err, murmur, of the crowd.

— Marek Warszawski (@MarekTheBee) December 25, 2017

That period of fall has returned to New England where I look outside and murmur "yuck" under my breath.

— Drew Christ (@drewchrist_geo) October 17, 2019

Which of the following words is a synonym of murmur?

A. mutter
B. mumble
C. grumble
D. all of the above