Usage
What does murmurous mean? Murmurous is used to describe something or someone that’s murmuring—making 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. Murmurous can be used in all of these contexts. The adjective murmuring can be used to mean the same thing in most cases.Example: The murmurous creek was as good as a lullaby, soothing me to sleep.
Other Word Forms
- murmurously adverb
- unmurmurous adjective
- unmurmurously adverb
Etymology
Origin of murmurous
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.
I can hear the murmurous, gently swelling music of Rotview Balcony, a place of crimson skies and arid landscape, playing from the other room where the game is idling as I type this sentence.
From Washington Post • Mar. 4, 2022
“What’s Wrong”: Late-night bits-and-pieces jazz-clatter, murmurous moody vocals.
From Slate • Sep. 21, 2012
He wrote: “This is another world — terrifying to the outsider, yet imposing in its strangeness — behind those massive walls, in this murmurous darkness, within the temporary but real power of desperate men.”
From New York Times • Nov. 25, 2011
Last week murmurous dissent erupted in the most conspicuous display since Charles de Gaulle took power.
From Time Magazine Archive
A small soft wind blew gently from the east, a wind mild and murmurous and full of rain.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
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.
