Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to clear the throat

to clear the throat

2.7
To cough slightly to remove mucus from your throat or to get attention
  • phrasal verb
  • /klɪr ðə θroʊt/
translation icon : aclarar la garganta
  • She often clears her throat when she feels something is stuck in her throat.

Examples

  • Before speaking to the audience, he cleared his throat to get their attention.

  • If the injected substance extrudes from the puncture hole, the material can be cleared by instructing the patient to cough or clear the throat.

    Academic text (2004)

  • I can handle it, boy, but if they do a, you know, if they clear the throat, I'm out.

  • She takes the dripping head into her hands, bending it back to clear the throat.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • To begin the presentation, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

Synonyms

to cough
vsto clear the throat
254 1.0

To push air out of the lungs suddenly, often to clear the throat

is usually a slight sound to remove mucus and get attention
to clear
vsto clear the throat
118 3.7

To make a short rough sound to remove mucus from the throat

is a slight cough used to improve the voice and attract attention
to cough up
vsto clear the throat
8 4.6

To bring mucus or blood up from the lungs into the mouth

is a slight sound for improving the voice or to attract attention not spitting
to cough out
vsto clear the throat
1 4.1

To force mucus out of the lungs through the mouth

is a slight sound primarily to improve the voice not to remove phlegm

How Forceful

to hack
8 5.8
to cough
254 1.0
to clear the throat
2.7

Surface Forms

clear the throat infinitive
cleared the throat past
cleared the throat past participle
clearing the throat present participle
clears the throat third person singular

Morphology

clear + the + throat

The meaning 'to cough slightly to remove mucus or make the voice clear' is directly and transparently composed from 'clear' (to remove obstruction or make free) + 'throat' (the anatomical channel). This is a literal verb + object construction found cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Clear the throat comes from the simple act of giving a small cough to clear something stuck in the throat so the voice is not blocked. That's why it means 'to cough slightly to make the voice clear or to get attention'.