Definition of Whisper

Whisper

To speak softly, or under the breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration in the larynx which gives sonorous, or vocal, sound. See Whisper, n.

To make a low, sibilant sound or noise.

To speak with suspicion, or timorous caution; to converse in whispers, as in secret plotting.

To utter in a low and nonvocal tone; to say under the breath; hence, to mention privately and confidentially, or in a whisper.

To address in a whisper, or low voice.

To prompt secretly or cautiously; to inform privately.

A low, soft, sibilant voice or utterance, which can be heard only by those near at hand; voice or utterance that employs only breath sound without tone, friction against the edges of the vocal cords and arytenoid cartilages taking the place of the vibration of the cords that produces tone; sometimes, in a limited sense, the sound produced by such friction as distinguished from breath sound made by friction against parts of the mouth. See Voice, n., 2, and Guide to Pronunciation, // 5, 153, 154.

A cautious or timorous speech.

Something communicated in secret or by whispering; a suggestion or insinuation.

A low, sibilant sound.

Related Definitions:

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Whisper Quotations

Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God.
Soren Kierkegaard

We cannot be kind to each other here for even an hour. We whisper, and hint, and chuckle and grin at our brother's shame; however you take it we men are a little breed.
Alfred Lord Tennyson

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.
Thomas Carlyle

As virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go, whilst some of their sad friends do say, the breath goes now, and some say no.
John Donne

Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty.
Earl Wilson

Some people will believe anything if you whisper it to them.
Miguel de Unamuno

The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master's ear. It is the court fool, not the foolish courtier, whom the king can least afford to lose.
Walter Lippmann

I would hope it's better, but I'm actually acknowledging now that I want to explore all these levels from a whisper to a scream with this gift I've been given.
David Coverdale

But I now entered on my fifteenth year - a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to whisper foul words in my ear. Young as I was, I could not remain ignorant of their import.
Harriet Ann Jacobs

The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other.
Charles Caleb Colton

For many years, I thought a poem was a whisper overheard, not an aria heard.
Rita Dove

I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.
Penelope Cruz

Fame can be just so annoying because people are so critical of you. You can't just say, 'hi'. You say hi and people whisper' man did you see the way she said hi? What an attitude.
Juliette Lewis

Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk. Don't talk anything you can whisper. Don't whisper anything you can smile. Don't smile anything you can nod. Don't nod anything you can wink.
Earl Long

Nowhere, absolutely nowhere, has there ever been a hint, not even a whisper, that a Black person was involved in the assassination of the president. But that's the kind of thing you have in this movie.
Louis Stokes

It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper.
Errol Flynn

All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sounds. Sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature.
Rudolf Steiner

I don't like to watch golf on television because I can't stand people who whisper.
David Brenner

A secret is not something unrevealed, but something told privately, in a whisper.
Marcel Pagnol

It is harder to kill a whisper than even a shouted calumny.
Mary Stewart

It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.
Lord John Russell

Every night, whisper "peace" in your husband's ear.
Andrei A. Gromyko

More Whisper Quotations

Whisper Translations

whisper in Danish is hviske
whisper in Dutch is gefluister, fluistering
whisper in Finnish is kuiskata
whisper in French is chuchoter
whisper in Italian is sussurrare
whisper in Portuguese is sussurro
whisper in Spanish is cuchichear, cuchicheo
whisper in Swedish is viska

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