/ 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)

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