Skip to main content
white noise

white noise

10 3.9
A steady sound made of all tones that hides other sounds and helps people sleep
  • noun
  • /waɪt nɔɪz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ruido blanco
  • Alongside sleep trackers, especially, white noise machines have gained popularity.
  • background white noise

So how loud or how soft should that white noise be while you learn?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Now, though, the offices were silent, and even the white noise machines had been unplugged.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Her helmet rang with the white noise of the emergency beacon.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Also get a white noise thing like the white noise app for your phone.

  • We need some white noise in the background.

  • Planes are like school buses for me; the white noise of the engine puts me to sleep.

    Blog text (16)
  • Soft, soporific music was playing in the background, white noise, the kind no one really listens to.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Then the line goes dead, and the image disintegrates in a hiss of white noise.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • It also has integrated white noise, so I can ask Siri to play some white noise.

  • I closed my eyes and listened to the white noise of the air conditioning.

  • Babies love the white noise on planes, and the young ones tend to sleep.

Antonyms

660 2.0

A period with no sound or speech

How Loud

loud
447 1.0
white noise
  • Specialized
10 3.9
background noise
  • Specialized
11 3.5
silence
660 2.0

Surface Forms

white noise singular
white noises plural

Morphology

white + noise

The compound clearly denotes a particular kind of noise—so a learner who knows 'white' and 'noise' can infer it labels a specific quality of sound—but the precise technical sense (an equal-intensity, all-frequency spectrum analogous to white light) depends on an analogy to 'white light' and on acoustic knowledge that many B1 learners lack. Because the modifier gives a useful clue but the full, technical meaning is metaphorical and not fully predictable from the constituents, this is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

White noise gets its name from white light, which is made when all colors mix together. So white noise is a mix of many sounds that can 'cover' other noises and help people sleep or focus.