/vɔɪs/, /vɔjs/, /vɑjs/
OriginFrom Middle English voice, voys, vois, borrowed from Anglo-Norman voiz, voys, voice, Old French vois, voiz (Modern French voix), from Latin vōcem, accusative form of vōx (“voice”), from Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs, root noun from *wekʷ- (“to utter, speak”). Cognate with Sanskrit वाच् (vāc), Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps), Persian آواز (âvâz). Displaced native Middle English steven (“voice”) (from Old English stefn (see steven)), Old English hlēoþor, Old English woþ, and Old English reord. Compare advocate, advowson, avouch, convoke, vocal, vouch, vowel. Doublet of vox.
- Sound uttered by the mouth, especially by human beings in speech or song; sound thus uttered considered as possessing some special quality or character.
“The human voice is the oldest musical instrument in history.”
“Stop repeating in that stupid voice what I say.”
“His low voice allowed him to become a bass in the choir.”
- Sound made through vibration of the vocal cords; sonant, or intonated, utterance; tone; — distinguished from mere breath sound as heard in whispering and voiceless consonants.
- The tone or sound emitted by an object.
“And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire, a still small voice.”
“Canst thou thunder with a voice like him?”
“The floods have lifted up their voice.”
- The faculty or power of utterance.
- That which is communicated; message; meaning.
“I desire to bee present with you now, and to change my voyce, for I stand in doubt of you.”
“My voice is in my sword.”
“17th century, John Fell, unknown work
Let us call on God in the voice of his church.”
- figurativelyAn expressed opinion, choice, will, desire, or wish; the right or ability to make such expression or to have it considered.
“Sicinius. How now, my masters! have you chose this man? / 1st Citizen. He has our voices, sir.”
“Some laws ordain, and some attend the choice / Of holy senates, and elect by voice.”
“Like many of the 7 million other first time voters, she came of age during half a decade of military rule that has governed the country since former general turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha sei”
- archaicCommand; precept.
“As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall yee perish; because ye would not be obedient vnto the voice of the Lord your God.”
- One who speaks; a speaker.
“a potent voice of Parliament.”
“The inclusion of transgender voices further disrupts the homonormalization of sex and identity evident in popular LGBTQ cinema.”
“President Biden told the American public in an Oval Office address on Wednesday that he had abandoned his re-election campaign because there is “a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices — yes, ”
- A particular style or way of writing that expresses a certain tone or feeling.
- A particular way of inflecting or conjugating verbs, or a particular form of a verb, which indicates the relation of the subject of the verb to the action which the verb expresses.
“The verbal system of Latin has two voices, active and passive.”
“There are four tenses of the subjunctive (present, perfect, imperfect, and pluperfect) and three voices (active, passive, and deponent). […] See 12.8 for the formation of the deponent voice.”
- In harmony, an independent vocal or instrumental part in a piece of composition.
“The theme of this piece constantly migrates between the three voice parts.”
- InternetA flag associated with a user on a channel, determining whether they can send messages to the channel.
“True, better clients will remember that a person had a voice before they were opped and will return the + when they are deopped, but that doesn't solve the problem.”
- transitiveTo give utterance or expression to; to utter; to publish; to announce
“He voiced the sentiments of the nation.”
“How often he would voice his love of England, his admiration of her Parliament, his pride in her history.”
“Rather assume thy right in silence and […] then voice it with claims and challenges.”
- transitiveTo utter audibly, with tone and not just breath.
- transitiveTo fit for producing the proper sounds; to regulate the tone of
“voice the pipes of an organ”
- obsolete, transitiveTo vote; to elect; to appoint
- intransitive, obsoleteTo clamor; to cry out
“If thou wilt give me Davids heart; Ile voyce, / Great God, with David; and make Davids choyce.”
“It is not the gift of every Perſon, nor of every Age, to harangue the multitude, to Voice it high and loud, & Dominari in Concionibus.”
“How wou'd they voice it o're and o're for Tachmas / To come, and blunt the edge of War agen!”
- Internet, transitiveTo assign the voice flag to a user on IRC, permitting them to send messages to the channel.
“I would like this script to allow me to notice not only the ops in a channel, but also those that have been voiced by the ops, at the same time.”
“If you then want others to be able to talk, you can voice them (+v) or if you want everyone able to talk, you can remove the moderation flag on the channel (-m).”
- To act as a voice actor to portray a character.
“The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven a”
- AustralianThe Indigenous Voice to Parliament proposal
Formsvoices(plural) · voyce(alternative, obsolete) · voices(present, singular, third-person) · voicing(participle, present) · voiced(participle, past) · voiced(past) · the Voice(canonical)
Source: Wiktionary