Showing results for "trill"

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Slang dictionary results for trill.

trill

¹ American  

[tril] / trɪl /

verb (used with object)

1. 

   to sing or play with a vibratory or quavering effect.

2. Phonetics. to produce (a sound) with a trill.

3. (of birds, insects, etc.) to sing or utter in a succession of rapidly alternating sounds.

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verb (used without object)

1. to resound vibrantly, or with a rapid succession of sounds, as the voice, song, or laughter.

   Synonyms:

   vibrate, tremble, quaver

2. to utter or make a sound or succession of sounds resembling such singing, as a bird, frog, grasshopper, or person laughing.

   Synonyms:

   warble, twitter, tweet, sing, peep, chirrup, chirp, cheep

3. to execute a shake or trill with the voice or on a musical instrument.

4. Phonetics. to execute a trill, especially with the tongue, as while singing, talking, or whistling.

noun

• trills
  plural

1. the act or sound of trilling.

2. Music. a rapid alternation of two adjacent tones; a shake.

3. a similar sound, or succession of sounds, uttered or made by a bird, an insect, a person laughing, etc.

   Synonyms:

   song, pipe, peep, chirrup, chirr, chirp, cheep, call, birdsong, twitter, tweet

4. Phonetics.

   1. a sequence of repetitive, rapid, vibratory movements produced in any free articulator or membrane by a rush of air expelled from the lungs and often causing a corresponding sequence of contacts between the vibrating articulator and another organ or surface.

   2. a speech sound produced by such a trill.

trill ² American  

[tril] / trɪl /

verb (used without object)

1. to flow in a thin stream; trickle.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to flow in a thin stream.

trill ¹ British  

/ trɪl /

noun

1. Usual symbol: tr., tr. music a melodic ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between a principal note and the note a whole tone or semitone above it

2. a shrill warbling sound, esp as made by some birds

3. phonetics

   1. the articulation of an (r) sound produced by holding the tip of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge, allowing the tongue to make a succession of taps against the ridge

   2. the production of a similar effect using the uvula against the back of the tongue

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verb

1. to sound, sing, or play (a trill or with a trill)

2. (tr) to pronounce (an (r) sound) by the production of a trill

trill ² British  

/ trɪl /

verb

1. an archaic or poetic word for trickle

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Usage

What else does trill mean? Trill is a blend of true and real, used in hip-hop slang for someone or something that is genuine and authentic.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• trills
  plural

Etymology

Origin of trill¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from Italian trillo, triglio “quaver or warble in singing,” ultimately from Germanic; compare Dutch trillen “to vibrate,” late Middle English trillen “to shake or rock (something)”

Origin of trill²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English trillen “to make (something) turn, to roll, flow (said of tears, water),” from Old Danish trijlæ “to roll” (said, e.g., of tears and of a wheelbarrow); compare Norwegian trille , Swedish trilla; see trill ¹

Explanation

If you're fluent in Spanish, you are probably able to speak with a trill, or a fluttering r sound. Many languages include a trill in their pronunciation, the sound of a consonant spoken while the tongue vibrates in a very specific way against the teeth or roof of the mouth. To pronounce this sound is also to trill. The word originally referred to a vibrating or warbling sound made by a singer, from the Italian word trillio, "a quavering or warbling," and it's also often used to describe the sound a bird makes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trill trills

Birdsong all around the world, they say, is made up of combinations of these motifs - three types of trill, three types of whistle, chaotic notes and harmonies.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Through evocative descriptions—the skylark’s trill “hovering in the quivering air,” or the sun rising over a “silvery, dew-thick cow meadow”—Ms. Haynes invites us to take part in the daily rhythms of our natural world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Actors are special, this Paul believes; he can hear it in a nurse’s excited trill when she reveals to him his past job.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2025

Under a starry sky in the Calakmul reserve, as unseen frogs chirp and insects trill, Medellín Legorreta patiently works to untangle a bat caught in a mist net.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023

“It’s a trill, you know, like a trill on the flute, except the first L is lowercase and the second is uppercase!”

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

More complex compositions - with ultrafast trills and combinations that contain lots of information - are more common in temperate forests, where birds tend to communicate at closer range.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

“But she’s not a scat singer. She improvises more in the technique of the Baroque period, expanding and contracting phrases or adding trills that deviate from the melody.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

She folded trills, stops and sweet harmonics into unbroken lines, and when she harmonized with herself, she utilized the plushness and patience familiar from her Bach recordings.

From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2024

Her singing is just as vivid and varied across the LP, with gutsy growls and breathy trills against multi-tracked harmony vocals that approximate the heavenly abundance of a gospel choir.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024

She plays it again and again, each time adding a new variation that makes the tune more complex, until the original simple melody is barely audible beneath the trills and chords on top of it.

From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse