noise
Pluralnoises
Pluralnoises
- 1A sound or several sounds, especially ones that are loud or unpleasant.
Like the loud sounds of cars and horns on a busy street.
The noise from the busy street made it hard to sleep.
Please turn down that noise so I can think.
UsageSay a noise for one sound and noise for sound in general. Use make: don't make a noise.
Similarsound
- 2Random or unwanted changes in signals or data that make useful information harder to identify.
Like specks of dust on a window that make it harder to see outside.
Static and noise made the radio signal hard to understand.
Engineers worked to remove the noise from the recording.
Note
- 3A lot of talk, complaining, or fuss about something, often without much real result.
Like a lot of busy talk that never gets anything done.
All that noise about the new rules came to nothing.
There was a lot of noise about the new rule, but nothing changed.
UsagePeople often make a lot of noise about something.
Note
- 4A kind of experimental music made from harsh sounds like static and feedback instead of tunes.
Like turning the rough, scratchy sounds of a broken radio into a kind of music.
She's really into noise and other experimental music.
She plays noise at small clubs, using guitar feedback and old radios.
Note
Less common meanings
- 5
- 6
- 7To tell lots of people about something, often passing it along as gossip or rumor.
Like passing a secret from person to person until the whole town knows it.
She asked us not to noise it about until the deal was done.
It was soon noised about that the old mill would close.
UsageUsually noise something about or abroad, often as "it was noised about".
Similarspread, circulate, broadcast, publicize
Note
- 8Music, a concert, or a group of musicians playing together.
The king has his noise of gypsies.
1621, Ben Jonson, “The Masque of the Gypsies”Here, noise means a group of musicians playing together.That we on earth, with undiscording voice, / May rightly answer that melodious noise
1646, John Milton, “At A Solemn Musick”Here, noise means music.Note
- 9The amount of difference in how genes work among cells that should be the same, whatever causes it.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Old French "noise," meaning a dispute or noise, borrowed into Middle English. Its earlier origin is uncertain.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English noise derives from Old French noise, associated with disputes and noise. fr.wiktionary.org
- Middle English borrowed noise from Old French; the borrowing went in the opposite direction. en.wiktionary.org
- The earlier origin of Old French noise is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org