voice

Less common meanings

7. 7
   grammarnouncountable

   A grammatical form of a verb that shows the relationship between the subject and the action: whether the subject performs it or undergoes it.

   Greek grammar adds a middle voice alongside the active and the passive.

   Shifting a sentence from passive to active voice changes which participant takes the subject role.

   UsageActive voice and passive voice (not incorrect: passive tense).

   Note

   Grammar uses the word for the choice a verb makes about its subject: does the subject act, or is it acted upon? Latin grammars count active and passive voices, and Greek adds a middle. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Grammatical voice indicates whether the subject acts or is acted upon. gutenberg.org
   • Ancient Greek recognizes a middle voice alongside active and passive. ccel.org
8. 8
   music partnouncountable

   An independent vocal or instrumental part within a musical composition.

   The composer gave the inner voice a flowing countermelody.

   In a fugue, each voice enters one after another with the same theme.

   Similarpart, line

   Note

   Musicians count lines, not singers. In a fugue or a passage of harmony, each independent part is a voice, whether it is sung or played. Writers on harmony speak of upper, inner and lower voices, and of a theme migrating between the voice parts. A purely instrumental piece can therefore have voices without a singer anywhere in it. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Musical voices are independent lines, whether sung or played, rather than a count of singers. viva.pressbooks.pub
   • Harmony writers describe upper, inner and lower voices. pressbooks.macalester.digital
   • A musical theme can pass between voice parts. musictheory.pugetsound.edu
   • Instrumental music can have voices without singers. viva.pressbooks.pub
9. 9
   what something saysnouncountable

   That which is communicated by something; its message or underlying meaning.

   Throughout the parable runs a clear voice of forgiveness.

   Critics disagreed about the moral voice of the closing chapter.

   Similarmessage, tone

10. 10
    throat vibrationnoununcountable

    The audible tone created by vibrating vocal cords, which distinguishes voiced sounds from whispers and voiceless consonants.

    Place your fingers on your throat and you'll feel the voice in a 'z' but not in an 's'.

    The only difference between the first sounds of 'fan' and 'van' is voice.

    Similarphonation

    Note

    Phoneticians mean something narrower here. They do not mean the whole sound of speaking, only the buzz of the vibrating vocal cords. That buzz separates z from s, and it is exactly what a whisper takes away. Hence the field's basic pairing of voiced and voiceless consonants. The act of producing a sound this way belongs to the phonetic verb. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • In this phonetic sense, voice is the buzzing sound produced by vibrating vocal cords. phon.ox.ac.uk
    • Vocal-fold vibration distinguishes voiced z from voiceless s. pressbooks.nvcc.edu
    • Whispering lacks vocal-cord vibration. en.wikipedia.org
    • The voiced–voiceless distinction concerns the presence or absence of vocal-fold vibration. pressbooks.nvcc.edu
11. 11
    use vocal cordsverbtransitive

    To produce a sound audibly through vibration of the vocal cords, rather than with breath alone.

    English speakers voice the final consonant in 'dogs' but leave it voiceless in 'cats'.

    Many learners of English forget to voice the last sound in words like 'dog' and 'bed', so they sound like 'dock' and 'bet'.

    Note

    The verb behind voiced and voiceless consonants, the distinction drawn under the phonetic noun. A speaker who voices a consonant lets the vocal cords vibrate through it, as English does at the end of dogs. Leave the sound unvoiced and you get the voiceless ending of cats. The past participle does most of the work in the field: a voiced stop, a voiced fricative. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Voicing a consonant involves vibrating the vocal cords. pressbooks.nvcc.edu
    • Dogs ends with voiced z. bpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com
    • The voiceless counterpart s occurs at the end of cats. bpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com
12. 12
    sound of objectsnouncountable

    The characteristic tone or sound emitted by an object.

    The organ's rich voice swelled through the cathedral.

    Each engine has its own voice, and mechanics learn to recognize them.

    Similarsound, tone

    Note

    Older English lets things speak. The King James Bible of 1611 gives a voice to floods and thunder, and its "still small voice" after the fire is one of the best-known phrases in the language. In Joseph Addison's Cato (1713), a heart "leaps at the trumpet's voice." Today the sense sits most naturally on instruments and machines with a recognizable sound, such as an organ or an engine. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • The King James Bible attributes a voice to floods, in Psalm 93:3. en.wikisource.org
    • The King James Bible attributes a voice to thunder, in Psalm 77:18. en.wikisource.org
    • The phrase “still small voice” occurs after the fire in 1 Kings 19:12. en.wikisource.org
    • Joseph Addison wrote Cato, first published in 1713. oll.libertyfund.org
    • In Cato, Portius says that his heart “leaps at the trumpet's voice.” gutenberg.org
13. 13
    adjust toneverbtransitive

    To fit an instrument or its parts for producing the proper sounds; to regulate the tone of a pipe, reed, or string.

    The technician will voice the new rank of pipes before the recital.

    Craftsmen carefully voice each reed so the harmonium speaks evenly across its range.

14. 14
    nounarchaic

    A command or binding order; an authoritative instruction that must be carried out.

    As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall yee perish; because ye would not be obedient vnto the voice of the Lord your God.

    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

    Note

    Here the voice is one that must be obeyed. The King James Bible of 1611 warns those who "would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God." The words are an order, not merely a sound. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. commons.wikimedia.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in the King James Bible as a warning about disobedience, in Deuteronomy 8:20. en.wikisource.org
15. 15
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To cry out loudly or make a clamor, as a crowd raising its noise together.

    How wou'd they voice it o're and o're for Tachmas / To come, and blunt the edge of War agen!

    1682, Thomas Southern, The Loyal Brother

    Note

    Seventeenth-century writers liked a dummy it here: Robert South writes "to voice it high and loud" (1666), and Thomas Southern "voice it o're and o're" (1682). The sense is obsolete, though Tennyson revives it in "Lucretius" (1868), where a bird "makes his heart voice amid the blaze of flowers." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • Seventeenth-century examples use voice with a dummy it. en.wiktionary.org
    • Robert South wrote the quoted words in a work published in 1666. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted words occur in Thomas Southern's The Loyal Brother. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Loyal Brother was first published in 1682. openlibrary.org
    • The clamor sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
    • Tennyson used the verb in Lucretius, published in 1868. dvpp.uvic.ca
16. 16
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To vote for, elect, or appoint someone to a position or office.
17. 17
    noun

    On IRC, a flag (+v) attached to a user that allows them to send messages in a moderated channel.
18. 18
    verb

    On IRC, to grant a user the voice flag, allowing them to send messages to the channel.