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noise

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Sound of any kind.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

noyz
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈnɔɪz

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. Sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)

  2. The auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience

    “Modern music is just noise to me.”

  3. uncountable

    Various sounds, usually unwanted or unpleasant.

  4. The quality of lacking any predictable order or plan

  5. figurativeby extension

    Unwanted fuss or bustle; useless activity.

  6. Sound or signal generated by random fluctuations.

verb

  1. transitive

    To spread news of; to spread as rumor or gossip.

  2. Emit a noise

  3. intransitive

    To make a noise; to sound.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Various sounds, usually unwanted or unpleasant.

Used this way, noise is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use noise

  • “Modern music is just noise to me.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

noise levelbackground noiseloud noisenoise figurenoise powernoise reductionthermal noisenoise ratio

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • noisyadjectiveDerived adjective

    Full of or characterized by loud and nonmusical sounds.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • noise levelnounCompound term

    The amplitude level of the undesired background noise.

  • noise conditionsnounCompound term

    The condition of being noisy (as in a communication channel).

  • noise pollutionnounCompound term

    Annoying and potentially harmful environmental noise.

  • make noiseverbCompound term

    Emit a noise.

  • radio noisenounCompound term

    Static at radio wavelengths.

  • signal-to-noisenounCompound term

    The ratio of signal intensity to noise intensity.

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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.