noise

NOYZ/nɔɪz/

9 meanings of noise

1
soundnouncountable or uncountable
A sound or mixture of sounds, especially one that is loud, unwanted, or unpleasant.
Constant noise from the factory disturbed the whole neighborhood.
She wore earplugs to block out the noise of the airport.
UsageOne sound is a noise (a strange noise); sound in general is just noise (too much noise). The verb is make: make a noise.
Similarsound
2
unwanted signalnouncountable or uncountable
Random or unwanted variation in a signal or in data that obscures or distorts the information wanted, such as static or chance fluctuations in measurements.
Filtering reduced the noise in the sensor data, revealing a clear trend.
The astronomers stacked hundreds of images to reduce the noise and bring out the faint galaxy.
Note
An engineer's word for whatever spoils the output, best known from the phrase signal-to-noise ratio, where its partner term is signal, the information actually wanted. It reaches well beyond electronics. Clarence Green and James Lambert (2018) describe scanning and OCR introducing noise into a text corpus and raising its tagging error rate.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Clarence Green and James Lambert's cited paper appeared in 2018; the author's publication page dates it September 2018, although the journal issue is dated 2019. researchgate.net
Their paper describes scanning and OCR introducing corpus noise and increasing the tagging error rate. repository.nie.edu.sg
3
fussnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
Loud talk, complaint, or fuss about something, often with little real result.
The committee made a lot of noise but accomplished little.
Despite all the noise from parents about the later start time, the school board kept the schedule as it was.
UsageOften in make (a lot of) noise about something, and in cut through the noise.
Note
Sound turned into a metaphor for distraction: busy, clamorous activity that gets in the way of real work. It suits management prose. R. Douglas Williamson's Straight Talk on Leadership (2013) urges a leader to "turn down the noise level in the organization." The figure keeps its acoustic verbs, such as turn down and cut through, so the image of a loud room still sounds behind it.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
R. Douglas Williamson wrote Straight Talk on Leadership, first published in 2013. edelweiss-assets.abovethetreeline.com
The book urges a leader to "turn down the noise level in the organization," using those exact words. en.wiktionary.org
4
harsh musicnoununcountable
A style of experimental music built from harsh sounds such as static, feedback, and distortion, usually with little melody, rhythm, or harmony.
Critics filed the album under noise rather than conventional rock.
His record collection leans heavily toward noise and drone.
Note
A genre name that turns the everyday meaning into a program. Static, feedback and other non-musical sounds become the material of the music rather than interference with it, an idea traced to the Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo's manifesto The Art of Noises (1913). The term stands at the far end from the obsolete "music" meaning, in which noise could simply mean melody.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Luigi Russolo was an Italian Futurist. en.wikipedia.org
Russolo's manifesto The Art of Noises was first published in 1913. futurismo.accademiadellacrusca.org
The idea of using noise as musical material is traced to Russolo's manifesto. en.wikipedia.org
Noise formerly had a general musical sense, encompassing melody. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

5
hintsnouncolloquialcountable or uncountable
Speech that hints at or suggests a particular attitude or opinion.
Officials made conciliatory noises but offered no concrete plan.
Investors took the hawkish noise coming out of the central bank as a sign that rates would rise.
UsageUsually plural with an adjective: make encouraging noises, make the right noises about something.
Similarsignal, murmur
Note
The adjective carries the attitude, and the construction implies a signal rather than a commitment. Richard Oliver Collin and Pamela L. Martin (2012) set encouraging noises against two sides who "have never been further from an agreement."
6
verbrareintransitive
To make a noise; to produce sound.
Those terrours, which thou speak'st of, did me none ; I never fear'd they could, though noising loud And threatening nigh
1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost
Similarsound, resound, roar, ring
7
spread rumorverbtransitive
To spread news of something, passing it along as report, rumor, or gossip.
Like ripples spreading out from a stone dropped in a pond: one telling becomes many.
Within a week it had been noised abroad that the family was selling the estate.
He was careful not to noise his plans abroad before the contract was signed.
UsageUsually with abroad or about, often in the passive: it was noised abroad that the mill would close.
Similarspread, circulate, broadcast, publicize
Note
Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 has "when this was noysed aboute." In Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Christian's departure is "much noised abroad" until it becomes the town talk.
8
nounobsoletecountable or uncountable
Music of any kind, or a performance of it such as a concert; also, a group of musicians who play together, a band.
The king has his noise of gypsies.
1621, Ben Jonson, “The Masque of the Gypsies”
That we on earth, with undiscording voice, / May rightly answer that melodious noise
1646, John Milton, “At A Solemn Musick”
Note
In older English the word could name music itself, or the players who made it. In Ben Jonson's masque The Gypsies Metamorphosed (1621), the line "The king has his noise of gypsies" uses a noise for a band. Milton's "melodious noise" in "At a Solemn Musick" is music offered as praise. The sense is now obsolete, so a reader of such texts should not hear the disparagement carried by the unwanted-sound meaning.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
Noise historically meant music or a company of musicians; this sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
Ben Jonson wrote the masque The Gypsies Metamorphosed, dated 1621 by performance. hcmc.uvic.ca
The quoted words occur in the masque, spoken by Cockerel. hcmc.uvic.ca
Noise in Jonson's passage means a band. hcmc.uvic.ca
John Milton's At a Solemn Musick contains the phrase melodious noise. gutenberg.org
Milton's passage describes music offered in praise. gutenberg.org
9
noun
The measured level of variation in gene expression among cells of a supposedly identical population, whatever its source.

Practice

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Origin

Middle English noyse, noise was borrowed from Old French noise ("a dispute, wrangle, strife, noise"), a word whose own source is unclear. One theory links it to Latin nausia/nausea ("disgust, nausea"), another to Latin noxia ("hurt, harm, injury"); neither fits well in form or in sense.