Showing results for "whispering"

• present participle of whisper.

whispering

American  

[hwis-per-ing, wis-] / ˈʰwɪs pər ɪŋ, ˈwɪs- /

noun

whisperings plural

1. whispered talk or conversation.

2. rumor, hearsay, or gossip.

3. a whispered sound.

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adjective

1. that whispers; making a sound like a whisper.

2. like a whisper.

3. given to whispering; gossipy.

4. conversing in whispers.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unwhispering
  adjective
• half-whisperingly
  adverb
• whisperingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• whisperings
  plural

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

The quake was centered south of the 60 Freeway near Archibald Avenue, just east of the Whispering Lakes Golf Course.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2024

And a new one, set in the Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Station, perhaps inevitably called “Can You Hear Me?”

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2023

The basement contained a printing press that produced Bulletinen and Whispering Times - newspapers that distributed information from British radio broadcasts among the suppressed population.

From BBC • Mar. 2, 2023

"The Whispering Dark" is that book, a dark academia that transports the reader to fictional Godbole University where Delaney Meyers-Petrov is new, recently accepted into a program that trains students to move between parallel worlds.

From Salon • Dec. 10, 2022

“Senseless gabbings every night. I wish you would stop. Go away and work. Whispering, whispering, making no sense. Madness. I don’t feel like hearing your craziness.”

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston