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whoosh

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A breathy sound like that of an object passing at high speed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

woosh
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwuʃ

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. A breathy sound like that of an object passing at high speed.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    To pass by quickly.

  2. transitive

    To cause to pass quickly.

  3. intransitivefiguratively

    To happen while bypassing someone's detailed awareness, to have someone miss the point.

  4. intransitive

    To make a breathy sound like a whoosh.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A breathy sound like that of an object passing at high speed.

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

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
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 whoosh

  • “Oil whooshed up when the drill hit the well.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

loud whooshsoft whooshgreat whooshsudden whooshbig whooshlong whooshwhoosh soundair whoosh

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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.