adenoidal

1 9.6

Having a nasal voice as if the nose is blocked

adjective
/ˌædəˈnɔɪdəl/

Specialized

: adenoidal

adenoidal voice

But the more adenoidal he is, the more he's chuckified.

Examples

Peter had the voice of a small, adenoidal Austrian garter snake.

Fiction book (1992)
His uncle's voice still had the adenoidal quality that fascinated.

Fiction book (1999)
"Park, Eileen?" Louis's voice was glassy and adenoidal.

Fiction book (1993)
An adenoidal woman lamented lost love as country music twanged softly in the bridge of Starpower 1.

Fiction book (2001)
For her, this bearded rustic, with his silences and his steady eyes, was a novelty after the adenoidal boys of the motorcycle set.

Fiction book (1993)
The singer's adenoidal voice made her sound as if she were speaking through her nose.
After catching a cold, he spoke with an adenoidal tone that made it hard to understand him.
Her adenoidal speech drew attention for its unique nasal quality.

Synonyms

nasal

vsadenoidal

8 4.2

Having a sound that seems to come through the nose when it is blocked

is the same voice quality but usually caused by swollen throat tissue

pinched

vsadenoidal

8.0

A tight voice that sounds like your nose is blocked

is less sharply squeezed and more often from swollen throat tissue

Antonyms

clear

40 1.0

Pure and distinct in sound or colour

How Nasal

adenoidal

Specialized

1 9.6

nasal

8 4.2

Surface Forms

adenoidal positive

Morphology

adenoidal = adenoid (semi-transparent) = adenoid + al

The word is built regularly from 'adenoid' plus the adjective-forming suffix '-al', but the specific voice-related sense depends on a medical term that many learners may not know well.

Etymology

Adenoidal comes from the part adeno-, which means 'gland', and the ending -al, which means 'relating to'. Adenoids are glands behind the nose, so adenoidal describes a voice that sounds 'nasal' or as if the nose is blocked.