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Glite Dictionary
🤐 To speak unclearly 🤐 A soft sound 👶 To chew without teeth
mumble

mumble

29 4.6
A soft, unclear sound made when someone speaks
  • noun
  • /ˈmʌmbl/
translation icon : murmullo
  • There was nothing she hated more than the mumble of a television when she was trying to sleep.
  • mumble of voices
  • low mumble
  • lot of mumbles

They go in and they hear it and they're and they'll, and they'll kind of do like a mumble take and then and then it's like, OK, more words, more words more like each time it gets more fleshed out.

Examples

  • I heard the low mumble of my neighbor's voice.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • "Yes," came the barely audible mumble from the back seat.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • As I passed my mother's bedroom, I heard her mumble in her sleep, then turn over and sigh.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • His voice was an embarrassed mumble: "Thank you, ma'am."

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The sound of mumbling and confusion seethes from the crowd.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Mia makes a few lost mumbles, but they're not distinctive enough to be called words.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The intruder probed the works with one finger; she heard a disgusted mumbling.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The teacher requested that the students avoid mumble during their presentations.

  • As the crowd grew restless, I could only catch a few words from the mumble of their conversations.

  • His mumble was barely audible, making it hard for anyone to understand his thoughts.

Synonyms

murmuring
vsmumble
11 3.4

A low continuous sound made by voices or nature

is human speech focused rather than any soft natural sound
mumbling
vsmumble
6 3.6

Speaking quietly and not clearly so people cannot understand

is a soft indistinct utterance rather than only unclear enunciation
muttering
vsmumble
3 4.6

A low unclear sound made quietly with the lips

is a single soft indistinct utterance rather than a continuous noise

Antonyms

clarity
152 3.0

How easy it is to understand what someone says or writes

Compounds

mumble-the-peg
  • Archaic
9.9

A children's game where players throw a small knife to make it stick in the ground

How Clear

statement
  • Formal
∞ 1.3
utterance
22 4.8
mumble
29 4.6
murmur
36 4.1

Surface Forms

mumble singular
mumbles plural

Morphology

mumble = mum (semi-transparent) = mum + le

The noun is a direct nominalization of the verb 'mumble' or derived from the same base; the relation to 'mum' is partial and the noun sense (a soft indistinct utterance) is reasonably inferred from the verb.

Etymology

Mumble as a noun comes from the same soft mum sound, like a little murmur, so a mumble is a quiet, unclear utterance and the origin shows why it is hard to hear.