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listening

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

Skill or ability of perceiving spoken language.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

lisuhning

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlɪsənɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An act by which something or somebody is listened to.

  2. Skill or ability of perceiving spoken language.

  3. An educational exercise involving listening.

adjective

  1. Of something that is used in order to hear or to improve the ability to hear.

  2. Of an action that is performed with caution and attention to sounds.

  3. Of something or someone that listens.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

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More ways to use listening

  • “You can learn a lot by just listening.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

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active listeninglistening comprehensionlistening deviceslistening postlistening earlistening audience

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • listenverbBase word

    Hear with intention.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • listenernounPerson or profession

    Someone who listens attentively.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • listening watchnounCompound term

    A watch established for the reception of traffic of interest to the unit maintaining the watch.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: of something that is used in order to hear

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.