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Glite Dictionary
🤫 To speak softly 🤫 A soft voice 🍃 A soft sound
to whisper

to whisper

586 1.0
To speak very quietly using only breath so one person can hear
  • verb
  • /ˈwɪspər/
translation icon : susurrar
  • "So good of you to come," he said, then he whispered, "What was your name again?"
  • whisper into your ear
  • whisper words
  • whispered conversations

They're not my brothers, Lydia whispered, her fingers curled on the glass.

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Examples

  • The night before we lost the ship, he whispered something in her ear.

    The Staying Kind (2018)

  • He leaned closer and whispered his secret so that only she could hear.

  • Are you going to whisper this to me in bed tonight again?

  • "No, it's not for Father," she managed to whisper, as if she were guilty of something.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • We have to whisper because it's night time, sweetheart.

  • OK, I'm going to whisper my number to Michaela.

    Good Mythical Morning

  • "Maybe we should have gone north," he whispered, looking to where Green Water slept.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I believe your creator is constantly whispering into you what your purpose is.

  • "We need you now, Kyosti," she whispered, intense, her face hidden in his hair.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Then she'd leaned forward to whisper in my ear like a priestess of the oracle.

    Fiction book (1990)

Synonyms

to mumble
vsto whisper
103 4.9

To speak in a low, unclear voice that is hard to understand

uses breath rather than vocal cords to produce soft speech for one listener
to murmur
vsto whisper
11 4.2

To speak in a low, quiet voice, often to complain or say something softly

uses breath to send a private message to one person
breathed
vsto whisper
7.0

Spoken very softly so it is almost a whisper

uses breath so is aimed at a single listener
to keep (someone's) voice down
vsto whisper
  • Informal
3.4

Speak quietly so you do not disturb others

uses breath to speak privately to one listener not mainly to avoid disturbance

Antonyms

to shout
644 1.0

To speak very loudly to get attention or show strong feeling

Phrasal Verbs

to whisper through
  • Literature
1 4.2

A soft quiet sound that moves through things like wind in grass

Compounds

stage whisper
2 6.1

A low voice that actors use so the audience can hear it

whisper campaign
  • Literature
2 7.5

A secret effort to spread bad rumors about someone to make people think less of them

Chinese whisper
  • Offensive
1 7.5

A game where people whisper a message along a line and it often changes

How Quiet

to whisper
586 1.0
to murmur
11 4.2
to mutter
140 3.7
to speak
∞ 1.0
to shout
644 1.0

Surface Forms

whisper infinitive
whispered past
whispered past participle
whispering present participle
whispers third person singular

Etymology

Whisper comes from the soft sound root whis-, so to whisper is to speak very quietly with your breath so only one person can hear you.