Definitions for: Voice


[n] a means or agency by which something is expressed or communicated; "the voice of the law"; "the Times is not the voice of New York"; "conservatism has many voices"
[n] the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech; "A shrill voice sounded behind us"
[n] the ability to speak; "he lost his voice"
[n] the melody carried by a particular voice or instrument in polyphonic music; "he tried to sing the tenor part"
[n] expressing in coherent verbal form; "the articulation of my feelings"; "I gave voice to my feelings"
[n] the sound made by the vibration of vocal folds modified by the resonance of the vocal tract; "a singer takes good care of his voice"; "the giraffe cannot make any vocalizations"
[n] something suggestive of speech in being a medium of expression; "the wee small voice of conscience"; "the voice of experience"; "he said his voices told him to do it"
[n] a sound suggestive of a vocal utterance; "the noisy voice of the waterfall"; "the incessant voices of the artillery"
[n] an advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose; "the meeting was attended by spokespersons for all the major organs of government"
[n] (metonymy) a singer; "he wanted to hear trained voices sing it"
[n] (linguistics) the grammatical relation (active or passive) of the grammatical subject of a verb to the action that the verb denotes
[v] give voice to; "He voiced his concern"
[v] utter with vibrating vocal chords



Webster (1913) Definition: Voice, n. [OE. vois, voys, OF. vois, voiz, F. voix, L.
vox, vocis, akin to Gr. ? a word, ? a voice, Skr. vac to say,
to speak, G. erw["a]hnen to mention. Cf. Advocate,
Advowson, Avouch, Convoke, Epic, Vocal, Vouch,
Vowel.]
1. Sound uttered by the mouth, especially that uttered by
human beings in speech or song; sound thus uttered
considered as possessing some special quality or
character; as, the human voice; a pleasant voice; a low
voice.

He with a manly voice saith his message. --Chaucer.

Her voice was ever soft, Gentle, and low; an
excellent thing in woman. --Shak.

Thy voice is music. --Shak.

Join thy voice unto the angel choir. --Milton.

2. (Phon.) Sound of the kind or quality heard in speech or
song in the consonants b, v, d, etc., and in the vowels;
sonant, or intonated, utterance; tone; -- distinguished
from mere breath sound as heard in f, s, sh, etc., and
also whisper.

Note: Voice, in this sense, is produced by vibration of the
so-called vocal cords in the larynx (see Illust. of
Larynx) which act upon the air, not in the manner of
the strings of a stringed instrument, but as a pair of
membranous tongues, or reeds, which, being continually
forced apart by the outgoing current of breath, and
continually brought together again by their own
elasticity and muscular tension, break the breath
current into a series of puffs, or pulses, sufficiently
rapid to cause the sensation of tone. The power, or
loudness, of such a tone depends on the force of the
separate pulses, and this is determined by the pressure
of the expired air, together with the resistance on the
part of the vocal cords which is continually overcome.
Its pitch depends on the number of a["e]rial pulses
within a given time, that is, on the rapidity of their
succession. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect] 5,
146, 155.

3. The tone or sound emitted by anything.

After the fire a still small voice. --1 Kings xix.
12.

Canst thou thunder with a voice like him? --Job xl.
9.

The floods have lifted up their voice. --Ps. xciii.
3.

O Marcus, I am warm'd; my heart Leaps at the
trumpet's voice. --Addison.

4. The faculty or power of utterance; as, to cultivate the
voice.

5. Language; words; speech; expression; signification of
feeling or opinion.

I desire to be present with you now, and to change
my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. --Gal. iv.
20.

My voice is in my sword. --Shak.

Let us call on God in the voice of his church. --Bp.
Fell.

6. Opinion or choice expressed; judgment; a vote.

Sic. How now, my masters! have you chose this man? 1
Cit. He has our voices, sir. --Shak.

Some laws ordain, and some attend the choice Of holy
senates, and elect by voice. --Dryden.

7. Command; precept; -- now chiefly used in scriptural
language.

So shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient
unto the voice of the Lord your God. --Deut. viii.
20.

8. One who speaks; a speaker. ``A potent voice of
Parliament.'' --Tennyson.

9. (Gram.) A particular mode of inflecting or conjugating
verbs, or a particular form of a verb, by means of which
is indicated the relation of the subject of the verb to
the action which the verb expresses.

Active voice (Gram.), that form of the verb by which its
subject is represented as the agent or doer of the action
expressed by it.

Chest voice (Phon.), a kind of voice of a medium or low
pitch and of a sonorous quality ascribed to resonance in
the chest, or thorax; voice of the thick register. It is
produced by vibration of the vocal cords through their
entire width and thickness, and with convex surfaces
presented to each other.

Head voice (Phon.), a kind of voice of high pitch and of a
thin quality ascribed to resonance in the head; voice of
the thin register; falsetto. In producing it, the
vibration of the cords is limited to their thin edges in
the upper part, which are then presented to each other.

Middle voice (Gram.), that form of the verb by which its
subject is represented as both the agent, or doer, and the
object of the action, that is, as performing some act to
or upon himself, or for his own advantage.

Passive voice. (Gram.) See under Passive, a.

Voice glide (Pron.), the brief and obscure neutral vowel
sound that sometimes occurs between two consonants in an
unaccented syllable (represented by the apostrophe), as in
able (a"b'l). See Glide, n., 2.

Voice stop. See Voiced stop, under Voiced, a.

With one voice, unanimously. ``All with one voice . . .
cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.'' --Acts xix.
34.


Voice, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Voiced; p. pr. & vb. n.
Voicing.]
1. To give utterance or expression to; to utter; to publish;
to announce; to divulge; as, to voice the sentiments of
the nation. ``Rather assume thy right in silence and . . .
then voice it with claims and challenges.'' --Bacon.

It was voiced that the king purposed to put to death
Edward Plantagenet. --Bacon.

2. (Phon.) To utter with sonant or vocal tone; to pronounce
with a narrowed glottis and rapid vibrations of the vocal
cords; to speak above a whisper.

3. To fit for producing the proper sounds; to regulate the
tone of; as, to voice the pipes of an organ.

4. To vote; to elect; to appoint. [Obs.] --Shak.


Voice, v. i.
To clamor; to cry out. [Obs.] --South.

Synonyms: articulation, interpreter, part, phonation, representative, sound, spokesperson, vocalisation, vocalise, vocalization, vocalize, vox

Antonyms: devoice

See Also: accompaniment, active, active voice, advocate, advocator, agency, air, ambassador, androglossia, articulate, bagman, bass, bass part, chirk, commercial traveler, commercial traveller, communication, enounce, enunciate, exponent, express, expression, flack, flack catcher, flak, flak catcher, give tongue to, grammatical relation, line, lung-power, means, melodic line, melodic phrase, melody, mouth, mouthpiece, musical accompaniment, passive, passive voice, physical ability, primo, pronounce, proponent, quaver, roadman, say, secondo, singer, singing voice, sound, sound, sound out, spin doctor, spokesman, spokeswoman, strain, support, traveling salesman, travelling salesman, tune, utter, verbalise, verbalize, vocaliser, vocalist, vocalizer, voice over, voice part, waver, way

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