| Library / English Dictionary |
VOICELESSNESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having no voice in the management or control of affairs
Example:
the voicelessness of those who live in situations of hopelessness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("voicelessness" is a kind of...):
impotence; impotency; powerlessness (the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and feeble)
Derivation:
voiceless (deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords
Synonyms:
susurration; voicelessness; whisper; whispering
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("voicelessness" is a kind of...):
speaking; speech production (the utterance of intelligible speech)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "voicelessness"):
stage whisper (a loud whisper that can be overheard; on the stage it is heard by the audience but it supposed to be inaudible to the rest of the cast)
Derivation:
voiceless (produced without vibration of the vocal cords)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A disorder of the vocal organs that results in the loss of voice
Synonyms:
aphonia; voicelessness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("voicelessness" is a kind of...):
defect of speech; speech defect; speech disorder (a disorder of oral speech)
Derivation:
voiceless (being without sound through injury or illness and thus incapable of all but whispered speech)
