listening

Plurallistenings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of listen.

   He spent the evening listening to old jazz records.

   Listening from the next room, she heard every word.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. As a participle it builds progressive tenses and modifying phrases (she was listening; listening from the next room). As a gerund it acts as a noun, as in William Babington Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918): "Listening here was as pleasant as talking." It also carries listen's sense of heeding advice, so "he isn't listening" can mean he won't take it.

2. 2
   adjective

   Used in order to hear, or to help improve someone's ability to hear.

   The spy planted a tiny listening device under the desk.

   Modern listening equipment can pick up a whisper across a large hall.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The skill or ability to perceive and understand spoken language.

   Strong listening helps you follow complex instructions correctly.

   The language course tests listening before grammar and writing.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A single act of attending by ear to something or someone.

   One quiet listening of the recording revealed a voice in the background.

   The jury requested a second listening of the emergency call.

   Similarhearing, playing, playback

   Note

   A countable noun that takes a plural, listenings, and counts repetitions. Music writing favors it: a symphony grows on you with each listening, and an album rewards multiple listenings. The noun listen covers similar ground as "an instance of listening," but listening suits the more considered tone of a review.

5. 5
   adjective

   Giving attention by ear to sounds or to what is being said.

   The therapist is always a calm, listening presence for her clients.

   A good host turns a quiet guest into a listening companion.

   Similarattentive, receptive, heedful

   Oppositeinattentive, distracted

   Note

   This adjective began life as a participle: Old English hlysnende carried the old -ende ending, which gave way to -ing by Middle English. It describes a state rather than a degree, so it is not compared. A person is listening or not, never more listening. It sits before its noun, as in a listening person or a listening presence.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   An educational exercise that involves listening to spoken material.

   The teacher played the audio twice for the final listening.

   Each listening on the exam came with five comprehension questions.

   Note

   Classroom vocabulary, and countable. Teachers speak of doing a couple of listenings the way they speak of doing a reading, each one a set piece of audio with tasks attached. Because it names the exercise itself, it pluralizes freely. The ability being trained is the skill of listening, which is not counted.

7. 7
   adjective

   Performed with caution and close attention to sounds.

   The scout advanced with a listening care, weighing each footstep.

   A listening hush fell over the room as the floorboards groaned.

   Similarattentive, watchful, alert

   Note

   Here the adjective moves from the person to what the person does. An advance or a step can be listening because whoever makes it is straining to hear. Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) has Venters make "his slow, listening advance" through dense thickets. The word pairs naturally with terms of slowness and care, as Grey pairs it with slow.

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