- present participle of whisper.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of whispering
before 1000; Middle English (noun), Old English hwisprunge. See whisper, -ing 2, -ing 1
Explanation
Whispering is what you do when you speak so softly that you can barely be heard. Most teachers have a rule that there's no whispering allowed while the class is taking a test. Whispering involves using your breath, rather than your vocal cords, to speak very quietly. You might hear whispering in the quiet section of the library or during a play or movie — it's used for communicating secrets or simply to avoid bothering other people. The word can also be used as an adjective for sounds that resemble a whisper, like the whispering wind through the trees on a breezy day.
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:
Least of all the relentless drive that would one day have everyone at USC raving and others around the nation whispering about one of the most anticipated freshman in college football.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
It can occasionally feel as if Refn is playing a game with you, softly whispering if you’re still there.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
“I want to tell you what they’re whispering about Michiganders out in Washington, because I’ve heard it myself,” Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd at the Detroit rally.
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
But there’s a growing unease with companies sticking generative-AI features into any and all products, and having a little AI djinn always whispering in our ear seems like a cautionary tale—or a “Twilight Zone” episode.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
I mean, I’m not going to sit alone at a random table in the cafeteria and pretend that everyone in the room is not whispering about me.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Compared to the library whisperings of the 2.5-liter hybrid, the 2.0-liter EcoBoost raises a ruckus at high loads and rpm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
However, there was broad and vociferous support for Baroness Kidron, a film director and digital rights campaigner, who accused ministers of being swayed by the "whisperings of Silicon Valley" asking them to "redefine theft".
From BBC ● May 19, 2025
That’s no different from the way the first season tricked us into obsessing over those mud and hair totems and whisperings about the Yellow King for nothing.
From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2024
The city is quiet apart from the whisperings of all-night radio phone-ins, forging the insomniacs, the lovelorn and the lost into a fleeting community.
From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2022
In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.
From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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.
