speech words in english like murmur

Words for Speaking: 30 Speech Verbs in English (With Audio)

Speaking is amazing, don’t you think?

Words and phrases come out of our mouths — they communicate meaning, and we humans understand each other (well, sometimes)!

But there are countless different ways of speaking.

Sometimes, we express ourselves by speaking quietly, loudly, angrily, unclearly or enthusiastically.

And sometimes, we can express ourselves really well without using any words at all — just sounds.

When we describe what someone said, of course we can say, “He said …” or “She said …”

But there are so many alternatives to “say” that describe the many different WAYS of speaking.

Here are some of the most common ones.

Words for talking loudly in English

Shout / yell / scream.

Sometimes you just need to say something LOUDLY!

Maybe you’re shouting at your kids to get off the climbing frame and come inside before the storm starts.

Or perhaps you’re just one of those people who just shout a lot of the time when you speak. And that’s fine. I’ve got a friend like that. He says it’s because he’s the youngest kid in a family full of brothers and sisters — he had to shout to make sure people heard him. And he still shouts.

Yelling is a bit different. When you yell, you’re probably angry or surprised or even in pain. Yelling is a bit shorter and more “in-the-moment.”

Screaming is similar but usually higher in pitch and full of fear or pain or total fury, like when you’ve just seen a ghost or when you’ve dropped a box of bricks on your foot.

“Stop yelling at me! I’m sorry! I made a mistake, but there’s no need to shout!”

Bark / Bellow / Roar

When I hear these words, I always imagine something like this:

These verbs all feel rather masculine, and you imagine them in a deep voice.

I always think of an army general walking around the room telling people what to do.

That’s probably why we have the phrase “to bark orders at someone,” which means to tell people what to do in an authoritative, loud and aggressive way.

“I can’t stand that William guy. He’s always barking orders at everyone!”

Shriek / Squeal / Screech

Ooooohhh …. These do not sound nice.

These are the sounds of a car stopping suddenly.

Or the sound a cat makes when you tread on her tail.

Or very overexcited kids at a birthday party after eating too much sugar.

These verbs are high pitched and sometimes painful to hear.

“When I heard her shriek , I ran to the kitchen to see what it was. Turned out it was just a mouse.”

“As soon as she opened the box and saw the present, she let out a squeal of delight!”

Wailing is also high pitched, but not so full of energy.

It’s usually full of sadness or even anger.

When I think of someone wailing, I imagine someone completely devastated — very sad — after losing someone they love.

You get a lot of wailing at funerals.

“It’s such a mess!” she wailed desperately. “It’ll take ages to clear up!”

Words for speaking quietly in English

When we talk about people speaking in quiet ways, for some reason, we often use words that we also use for animals.

In a way, this is useful, because we can immediately get a feel for the sound of the word.

This is the sound that snakes make.

Sometimes you want to be both quiet AND angry.

Maybe someone in the theatre is talking and you can’t hear what Hamlet’s saying, so you hiss at them to shut up.

Or maybe you’re hanging out with Barry and Naomi when Barry starts talking about Naomi’s husband, who she split up with last week.

Then you might want to hiss this information to Barry so that Naomi doesn’t hear.

But Naomi wasn’t listening anyway — she was miles away staring into the distance.

“You’ll regret this!” he hissed , pointing his finger in my face.

To be fair, this one’s a little complicated.

Whimpering is a kind of traumatised, uncomfortable sound.

If you think of a frightened animal, you might hear it make some kind of quiet, weak sound that shows it’s in pain or unhappy.

Or if you think of a kid who’s just been told she can’t have an ice cream.

Those sounds might be whimpers.

“Please! Don’t shoot me!” he whimpered , shielding his head with his arms.

Whispering is when you speak, but you bypass your vocal cords so that your words sound like wind.

In a way, it’s like you’re speaking air.

Which is a pretty cool way to look at it.

This is a really useful way of speaking if you’re into gossiping.

“Hey! What are you whispering about? Come on! Tell us! We’ll have no secrets here!”

Words for speaking negatively in English

Ranting means to speak at length about a particular topic.

However, there’s a bit more to it than that.

Ranting is lively, full of passion and usually about something important — at least important to the person speaking.

Sometimes it’s even quite angry.

We probably see rants most commonly on social media — especially by PEOPLE WHO LOVE USING CAPS LOCK AND LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!

Ranting always sounds a little mad, whether you’re ranting about something reasonable, like the fact that there’s too much traffic in the city, or whether you’re ranting about something weird, like why the world is going to hell and it’s all because of people who like owning small, brown dogs.

“I tried to talk to George, but he just started ranting about the tax hike.”

“Did you see Jemima’s most recent Facebook rant ? All about how squirrels are trying to influence the election results with memes about Macaulay Culkin.”

Babble / Blabber / Blather / Drone / Prattle / Ramble

These words all have very similar meanings.

First of all, when someone babbles (or blabbers or blathers or drones or prattles or rambles), it means they are talking for a long time.

And probably not letting other people speak.

And, importantly, about nothing particularly interesting or important.

You know the type of person, right?

You run into a friend or someone you know.

All you do is ask, “How’s life?” and five minutes later, you’re still listening to them talking about their dog’s toilet problems.

They just ramble on about it for ages.

These verbs are often used with the preposition “on.”

That’s because “on” often means “continuously” in phrasal verbs .

So when someone “drones on,” it means they just talk for ages about nothing in particular.

“You’re meeting Aunt Thelma this evening? Oh, good luck! Have fun listening to her drone on and on about her horses.”

Groan / Grumble / Moan

These words simply mean “complain.”

There are some small differences, though.

When you groan , you probably don’t even say any words. Instead, you just complain with a sound.

When you grumble , you complain in a sort of angry or impatient way. It’s not a good way to get people to like you.

Finally, moaning is complaining, but without much direction.

You know the feeling, right?

Things are unfair, and stuff isn’t working, and it’s all making life more difficult than it should be.

We might not plan to do anything about it, but it definitely does feel good to just … complain about it.

Just to express your frustration about how unfair it all is and how you’ve been victimised and how you should be CEO by now and how you don’t get the respect you deserve and …

Well, you get the idea.

If you’re frustrated with things, maybe you just need to find a sympathetic ear and have a good moan.

“Pietor? He’s nice, but he does tend to grumble about the local kids playing football on the street.”

Words for speaking unclearly in English

Mumble / murmur / mutter.

These verbs are all very similar and describe speaking in a low and unclear way, almost like you’re speaking to yourself.

Have you ever been on the metro or the bus and seen someone in the corner just sitting and talking quietly and a little madly to themselves?

That’s mumbling (or murmuring or muttering).

What’s the difference?

Good question!

The differences are just in what type of quiet and unclear speaking you’re doing.

When someone’s mumbling , it means they’re difficult to understand. You might want to ask them to speak more clearly.

Murmuring is more neutral. It might be someone praying quietly to themselves, or you might even hear the murmur of voices behind a closed door.

Finally, muttering is usually quite passive-aggressive and has a feeling of complaining to it.

“I could hear him muttering under his breath after his mum told him off.”

How can you tell if someone’s been drinking too much booze (alcohol)?

Well, apart from the fact that they’re in the middle of trying to climb the traffic lights holding a traffic cone and wearing grass on their head, they’re also slurring — their words are all sort of sliding into each other. Like this .

This can also happen if you’re super tired.

“Get some sleep! You’re slurring your words.”

Stammer / Stutter

Th-th-th-this is wh-wh-when you try to g-g-g-get the words ou-ou-out, but it’s dif-dif-dif-difficu-… hard.

For some people, this is a speech disorder, and the person who’s doing it can’t help it.

If you’ve seen the 2010 film The King’s Speech , you’ll know what I’m talking about.

(Also you can let me know, was it good? I didn’t see it.)

This can also happen when you’re frightened or angry or really, really excited — and especially when you’re nervous.

That’s when you stammer your words.

“No … I mean, yeah … I mean no…” Wendy stammered .

Other words for speaking in English

If you drawl (or if you have a drawl), you speak in a slow way, maaakiiing the voowweeel sounds loooongeer thaan noormaal.

Some people think this sounds lazy, but I think it sounds kind of nice and relaxed.

Some regional accents, like Texan and some Australian accents, have a drawl to them.

“He was the first US President who spoke with that Texan drawl .”

“Welcome to cowboy country,” he drawled .

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

That’s my impression of a dog there.

I was growling.

If you ever go cycling around remote Bulgarian villages, then you’re probably quite familiar with this sound.

There are dogs everywhere, and sometimes they just bark.

But sometimes, before barking, they growl — they make that low, threatening, throaty sound.

And it means “stay away.”

But people can growl, too, especially if they want to be threatening.

“‘Stay away from my family!’ he growled .”

Using speaking verbs as nouns

We can use these speaking verbs in the same way we use “say.”

For example, if someone says “Get out!” loudly, we can say:

“‘Get out!’ he shouted .”

However, most of the verbs we looked at today are also used as nouns. (You might have noticed in some of the examples.)

For example, if we want to focus on the fact that he was angry when he shouted, and not the words he used, we can say:

“He gave a shout of anger.”

We can use these nouns with various verbs, usually “ give ” or “ let out .”

“She gave a shout of surprise.”

“He let out a bellow of laughter.”

“I heard a faint murmur through the door.”

There you have it: 30 alternatives to “say.”

So next time you’re describing your favourite TV show or talking about the dramatic argument you saw the other day, you’ll be able to describe it more colourfully and expressively.

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8 thoughts on “ Words for Speaking: 30 Speech Verbs in English (With Audio) ”

Always enlighten and fun.. thank you

Great job! Thank you so much for sharing with us. My students love your drawing and teaching very much. So do I of course.

Good news: I found more than 30 verbs for “speaking”. Bad news, only four of them were in your list. That is to say “Good news I’m only 50 I still have plenty of time to learn new things, bad news I’m already 50 and still have so much learn. Thanks for your posts, they’re so interesting and useful!

Excellent. Can I print it?

Thanks Iris.

And yes — Feel free to print it! 🙂

Thanks so much! It was very interesting and helpful❤

Great words, shouts and barks, Gabriel. I’m already writing them down, so I can practise with them bit by bit. Thanks for the lesson!

Thank you so much for sharing with us. .It is very useful

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noun as in low, continuous sound

Strongest matches

Strong matches

• murmuration
• susurration

verb as in make low, continuous sound

Discover More

Example sentences.

However, there’s some surprisingly good ANC out there that does a fine job of filtering everyday noise like the murmurs of a cafe, kids, and pets shuffling around the house, or traffic sounds outside the walls of an apartment.

Used this way, the fabric microphone might listen for murmurs.

This gun operates at a whisper-soft murmur, so you never have to worry about disturbing those around you, especially if you share a small space.

The game was a pitchers’ duel until, just like that, Pablo Sandoval swung the Atlanta Braves in front and turned Nationals Park into a gallery of light murmurs.

It was the low-level murmur of two people who had forgotten to go on mute, followed by giggling.

Selling off the extras, I saw my neighbor marvel at the scent and murmur that he wished he could afford one.

Then in a kind and soothing murmur he ran over the important points with Vance, who stood like one stunned.

The crowd on the floor responded with a half-hearted murmur of assent.

The mix of cooking segments, pop concerts, and celebrity interviews is met with an unappreciative murmur.

They occurred without a murmur of protest from the United States.

Bernard folded his hands together—almost devoutly—and stood gazing at her with a long, inarticulate murmur of satisfaction.

Her glance wandered from his face away toward the Gulf, whose sonorous murmur reached her like a loving but imperative entreaty.

The leaves were motionless, the river crept past without a murmur, the dark hills rose out of the distant desert like a wave.

At the store he would never have given in, but he was not accustomed to hearing so loud a murmur of approval greet the opposition.

“Akhab Khan prevented those Shia dogs from shooting you and Mayne-sahib,” went on the low murmur.

Related Words

Words related to murmur are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word murmur . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in trivial talk, often incessant

verb as in talk trivially, often incessantly

• run off at the mouth
• spill the beans
• talk foolishly
• talk incoherently
• talk nonsensically

noun as in hint, suggestion

verb as in tell information

verb as in foam, froth up, especially with sound

Viewing 5 / 52 related words

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On this page you'll find 100 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to murmur, such as: buzz, hum, muttering, rumble, whisper, and babble.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Synonyms of murmurs

• as in whines
• as in whispers
• as in complains
• as in mutters
• More from M-W
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Thesaurus Definition of murmurs

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Synonyms & Similar Words

• expostulations
• remonstrances

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• compliments
• commendations
• indorsements
• endorsements

Thesaurus Definition of murmurs  (Entry 2 of 2)

• kicks up a fuss
• kicks up a stink
• objects (to)
• quarrels (with)
• countenances
• articulates

Thesaurus Entries Near murmurs

Cite this entry.

“Murmurs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/murmurs. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on murmurs

Nglish: Translation of murmurs for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of murmurs for Arabic Speakers

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[ mur -mer ]

Synonyms: mutter , complaint , mumble , susurration , grumble

• a mumbled or private expression of discontent.
• an abnormal sound heard on listening to the heart, usually through a stethoscope, produced by the blood passing through deformed cardiac valves.
• in some persons a similar sound heard when blood passes through normal valves.
• Phonetics. a voice quality in which vibration of the vocal cords is accompanied by the escape of a great deal of air, as in the (h) of ahead; breathy voice.

verb (used without object)

• to make a low or indistinct sound, especially continuously.
• to speak in a low tone or indistinctly.

Synonyms: grouse

verb (used with object)

• to sound by murmurs.

He murmured a threat as he left the room.

• a continuous low indistinct sound, as of distant voices

a murmur of satisfaction

he made no murmur at my suggestion

• See heart murmur med any abnormal soft blowing sound heard within the body, usually over the chest See also heart murmur
• to utter (something) in a murmur
• intr to complain in a murmur

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˈmurmuring , noun adjective
• ˈmurmuringly , adverb
• ˈmurmurous , adjective
• ˈmurmurer , noun

Other Words From

• murmur·er noun
• murmur·less adjective
• murmur·less·ly adverb
• un·murmured adjective
• un·murmur·ing adjective
• un·murmur·ing·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of murmur 1

Synonym Study

Example sentences.

However, there’s some surprisingly good ANC out there that does a fine job of filtering everyday noise like the murmurs of a cafe, kids, and pets shuffling around the house, or traffic sounds outside the walls of an apartment.

Used this way, the fabric microphone might listen for murmurs.

This gun operates at a whisper-soft murmur, so you never have to worry about disturbing those around you, especially if you share a small space.

The game was a pitchers’ duel until, just like that, Pablo Sandoval swung the Atlanta Braves in front and turned Nationals Park into a gallery of light murmurs.

It was the low-level murmur of two people who had forgotten to go on mute, followed by giggling.

Selling off the extras, I saw my neighbor marvel at the scent and murmur that he wished he could afford one.

Then in a kind and soothing murmur he ran over the important points with Vance, who stood like one stunned.

The crowd on the floor responded with a half-hearted murmur of assent.

The mix of cooking segments, pop concerts, and celebrity interviews is met with an unappreciative murmur.

They occurred without a murmur of protest from the United States.

Bernard folded his hands together—almost devoutly—and stood gazing at her with a long, inarticulate murmur of satisfaction.

Her glance wandered from his face away toward the Gulf, whose sonorous murmur reached her like a loving but imperative entreaty.

The leaves were motionless, the river crept past without a murmur, the dark hills rose out of the distant desert like a wave.

At the store he would never have given in, but he was not accustomed to hearing so loud a murmur of approval greet the opposition.

“Akhab Khan prevented those Shia dogs from shooting you and Mayne-sahib,” went on the low murmur.

Related Words

More about murmur, what does  murmur mean.

To murmur is to make a continuous, low, and indistinct sound. Such a sound can be called a murmur . Examples include the sound of water in a stream, the wind through the trees, and the low, muffled sound of a TV in another room.

This is the way the word is used in the phrase the murmur of the crowd , which refers to the collective sound of a lot of people talking at once. In contrast, the roar of the crowd refers to collective cheering and is much louder.

Murmur also means to say something in a low tone that can’t be easily understood. Similar words are mutter and mumble . Murmuring in this way is often done to express discontent with whatever one is talking about.

The thing that’s said can be called a murmur. This sense of murmur can also be used in a more figurative way to refer to a private expression of discontent, as in There were murmurs about a strike.  

In the context of medicine, murmur is a short form of the term heart murmur , referring to an abnormal sound heard when listening to a heartbeat with a stethoscope (such a sound may indicate the presence of deformation in the heart valves).

Example: The endless murmur of the creek was as good as a lullaby, soothing me to sleep.

Where does  murmur come from?

The first records of the word murmur come from around the 1300s. It comes from the Latin word murmurāre , meaning “to mutter,” “to make a gentle sound,” “to roar,” or “to grumble.” Murmur is thought to be based on onomatopoeia , which is the formation of a word by imitation of a sound.

In other words, murmur sounds like the thing it describes. When the people in a crowd all talk at the same time, you don’t hear the individual voices or conversations. Instead, you can only hear the murmur —the indistinct, collective chatter of all those voices combined. If you tried to imitate that sound, it may sound a bit like murmurmurmurmurmur.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms of murmur ?

• murmuring (continuous tense verb, noun)
• murmurer (noun)
• murmurous (adjective)

What are some synonyms for murmur ?

What are some words that share a root or word element with murmur ? 

• murmuration
• heart murmur

What are some words that often get used in discussing murmur ?

How is  murmur used in real life?

Murmur is commonly used as a both a verb and a noun. Most of its senses involve a low, indistinct sound.

My dad sees CNN discussing Bieber, starts yeling "Just put him in jail. And be done with it" walks away murmuring something about junk on TV — Jana (@kasperka) January 23, 2014

We're nearly underway in Hawaii. Both teams take the field to the roar … err, murmur, of the crowd. — Marek Warszawski (@MarekTheBee) December 25, 2017

That period of fall has returned to New England where I look outside and murmur "yuck" under my breath. — Drew Christ (@drewchrist_geo) October 17, 2019

Try using  murmur !

Which of the following words is a synonym of murmur ?

A. mutter B. mumble C. grumble D. all of the above

[ ak -s uh -lot-l ]

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Definition of 'murmur'

Video: pronunciation of murmur

murmur in British English

Murmur in american english, examples of 'murmur' in a sentence murmur, cobuild collocations murmur, trends of murmur.

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In other languages murmur

• American English : murmur / ˈmɜrmər /
• Brazilian Portuguese : murmurar
• Chinese : 小声说　
• European Spanish : murmurar
• French : murmurer
• German : murmeln
• Italian : mormorare
• Japanese : ささやく
• Korean : 중얼거리다
• European Portuguese : murmurar
• Latin American Spanish : murmurar
• Thai : พึมพำ
• Brazilian Portuguese : murmúrio
• Chinese : 喃喃自语
• European Spanish : murmullo
• French : murmure
• German : Murmeln
• Italian : mormorio
• Japanese : ささやき
• Korean : 중얼거림
• European Portuguese : murmúrio
• Latin American Spanish : murmullo
• Thai : เสียงพึมพำงึมงำ

Browse alphabetically murmur

• Murman Coast
• murmur a prayer
• murmuration
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'M'

Related terms of murmur

• heart murmur
• hear a murmur
• without a murmur
• friction murmur
• View more related words

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Definition of murmur noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• She answered in a faint murmur.
• Murmurs of ‘Praise God’ went around the circle.
• He gave a little murmur of relief.
• He took the mug of coffee with a murmur of thanks.
• She answered in a low murmur.
• ripple through something
• in a murmur
• with a murmur
• without a murmur
• the murmur of voices

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Meaning of murmur in Essential English Dictionary

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(Definition of murmur from the Cambridge Essential Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of murmur

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