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whistle

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wisuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwɪsəl

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.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    Make a whining, ringing, or whistling sound

    “He lay there, snoring and whistling.”

  2. ambitransitive

    To make a shrill, high-pitched sound by forcing air through the mouth. To produce a whistling sound, restrictions to the flow of air are created using the teeth, tongue and lips.

  3. Move, send, or bring as if by whistling

    “Her optimism whistled away these worries.”

  4. intransitive

    To move in such a way as to create a whistling sound.

  5. transitive

    To send, signal, or call by a whistle.

noun

  1. A shrill, high-pitched sound made by whistling.

  2. A small wind instrument that produces a whistling sound by blowing into it

  3. A device designed to be placed in the mouth and blown, or driven by steam or some other mechanism, to make a whistling sound.

  4. The sound made by something moving rapidly or by steam coming out of a small aperture

  5. colloquial

    The mouth and throat; so called as being the organs of whistling.

  6. The act of signalling (e.g., summoning) by whistling or blowing a whistle

    “The whistle signalled the end of the game.”

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Make a whining, ringing, or whistling sound

Used this way, whistle is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“He lay there, snoring and whistling.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

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

How It’s Used

The word’s distinct uses, one example each.

  • Make / moveverb

    “He lay there, snoring and whistling.”

  • Shrill / smallnoun

    “The whistle signalled the end of the game.”

More ways to use whistle

  • “The stream train whistled as it passed by.”verb
  • “The whistle of the wind in the trees.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

tin whistlepenny whistlewhistle blowing

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • whistlingnounInflected form

    The sound made by something moving rapidly or by steam coming out of a small aperture.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • whistle-stop tournounCompound term

    A tour by a candidate as part of a political campaign in which a series of small towns are visited.

  • whistle buoynounCompound term

    A buoy that makes a whistling noise.

  • whistle blowernounCompound term

    An informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.

  • whistling buoynounCompound term

    A buoy that makes a whistling noise.

  • whistling marmotnounCompound term

    Large North American mountain marmot.

  • whistle stopnounCompound term

    A small railway station between the principal stations or a station where the train stops only on a signal.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: shrill or high-pitched sound made by whistling

tin whistleRare

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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.