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Glite Dictionary
ventriloquism

ventriloquism

10 8.7
To make your voice seem to come from a puppet
  • noun
  • /vɛnˈtrɪləkwɪzəm/
translation icon : ventriloquismo
  • The magician impressed everyone with his skill in ventriloquism as he made the puppet seem to speak on its own.

My spelling is atrocious, but I'm guessing ventriloquism.

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Examples

  • After all, I had been practicing ventriloquism since the age of five (using my teddy bear as my figure).

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Are you interested in ventriloquism?

    Raising Buchanan (2019)

  • Fred has been studying ventriloquism.

    Hop (2011)

  • I didn't think you had an interest in ventriloquism.

    Laggies (2014)

  • Pablo is completely thrown; so are we, for that matter... and then it hits us: Joe is doing ventriloquism.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • During the talent show, her performance of ventriloquism captivated the audience as her dummy appeared to have a mind of its own.

  • He dedicated hours to practicing ventriloquism, hoping to perfect his ability to make his puppet's voice sound realistic.

Synonyms

ventriloquy
vsventriloquism
9.9

To speak so your voice seems to come from a puppet or toy for a show

focuses on projecting the voice specifically through a puppet or dummy

Surface Forms

ventriloquism singular
ventriloquisms plural

Morphology

ventriloquism = ventriloquist (opaque) = ventr + loqu + ism

The meaning is not directly derivable from the roots 'ventr' and 'loqu', as these roots are not standalone English words and the concept is specialized.

Etymology

Ventriloquism comes from Latin parts ventri- meaning 'belly' and loqu- meaning 'speak'. So it literally means 'speaking from the belly', which helps you picture a voice seeming to come from a puppet or another place, and that's why ventriloquism is the art of making a voice seem to come from somewhere else.