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Listen

[lis-uhn]

Example Sentences Origin

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verb (used without object)

to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.

to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to): Children don't always listen to their parents.

to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for): to listen for sounds of their return.

Informal. to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound: The new recording doesn't listen as well as the old one.

verb (used with object)

Archaic. to give ear to; hear.

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Listen is one of our favorite verbs.

So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:

to bark; yelp.

to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

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Verb phrase

listen in,

to listen to a radio or television broadcast: Listen in tomorrow for the names of the lottery winners.

to overhear a conversation or communication, especially by telephone; eavesdrop: Someone was listening in to his private calls.

Origin:
before 950; Middle English lis(t)nen, Old English hlysnan; cognate with Middle High German lüsenen, Swedish lyssna; akin to list⁵

Related forms

lis·ten·er, noun

re·lis·ten, verb

un·lis·ten·ing, adjective

Synonyms
1. See hear.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Listen

Example Sentences

If you want a big swig of despair, listen to the people who know something about the global economy.

Without telling them the composer, he asks them to listen to it and write down their impressions.

Once the subscription expires at the end of the year, you can still listen to the tracks.

EXPAND

If you want a big swig of despair, listen to the people who know something about the global economy.

Without telling them the composer, he asks them to listen to it and write down their impressions.

Once the subscription expires at the end of the year, you can still listen to the tracks.

Then there's all the energy used to let you listen to me.

It was annoying to listen to it at night and that particular mouse died much earlier than the others.

So as sunset sweeps across the sky, settle down to listen to the fire crackle and watch its glow light up the faces around you.

Turntablefm is an excellent service for friends who want to party and listen to music together online.

Imeem, a music-oriented social network, now lets users listen to songs from three of the four major labels free.

Fortunately the biologists did not listen to us philosophers.

Consumers often moan that companies do not listen to them.

The sad thing really is that people listen to these crackers.

Those of us pacing beneath listen to him grunt and huff.

Listen to the ocean from your room in one of these lesser-known coastal inns more.

To listen to the first million years of the universe, compressed into five seconds, click here.

Listen to usYou will notice there is no please in that sentence.

Listen to talk, music, public affairs and other programming.

We listen to music with our brains and the experience is highly subjective.

It is also fun to listen to the communications between the pilots and the ships.

Listen for the beautiful, descending call of a canyon wren.

In other words, consumers still have to listen to the music that other people program.

Readers are presumed to be curious about what musicians listen to during their downtime.

But she doesn't expect scholars in the field to listen.

But in many cases they are locked in, and if they stop paying their subscription fees, they can no longer listen to anything.

They are two symbiotic things that when they work together, the purity of truth comes out to all who will listen.

Water drums: listen to the rhythm of the falling rain.

Lastfm tracks what its members listen to using a so-called audioscrobbler that works with a variety of media players.

Except that as you watch her listen to the computer voice, you can sense her wincing at how the synthesizer butchers her words.

Besides, music has to have a hippity-hoppity beat for them to listen to it.

Listen to a talk about the scientific excursions to different locations, the field studies, the new discoveries and more.

We should all get to hang in our pajamas and listen to the pitter patter on the roof.

Half a listen was enough to send me scurrying in the opposite direction.

Experts say students learn more if they are comfortable, but few colleges listen.

Yet listen and download are considered good enough for the purpose.

As the boys listen to her read, they think about tomorrow.

Take a listen and then vote on the degree of its rockingness in the poll below.

The experience is a real trial for many of them, but it forces them to listen instead of talk.

Government suits had to listen patiently to the complaints of internet activists.

Visitors can listen to live and studio recordings of the pieces at the touch of a finger on the interactive features.

Speech is loud and clear, and easily good enough to listen to a book while you cook.

That'll get everyone's attention-but so will being a kind and inclusive mentor, who tries to get all to listen and speak.

Either way, it's fascinating to listen to the well-constructed arguments on both sides.

All three have been pulled down, but not before a few people snuck a listen.

My advice is to listen, listen and listen and understand that different people have different visions of their department.

Listen as members of the team detail experiences and discoveries from their work.

Imagine being punished every time you tried to listen to your favorite band/musician.

The protesters rallied on a street in front of the campus before moving to a nearby plaza to listen to speeches.

There were only a few other tourists, but one couple leaned closer to listen to me.

Lala allows customers to listen to songs on their site once for free.

Every donor is different, so listen to how they describe their wants and needs, and tailor your approach to them.

She will explain to anyone who will listen that unlike wind and solar power, wave energy is always available.

There, the two upload their own personal music play lists along with commentaries to anyone who wants to listen.

She taught others how to listen to the unspeakable.

The stuff that people used to watch or listen to largely because there was little else on is increasingly being ignored.

Watch and listen to this unusual form of communication.

They next listen to different kinds of music and imagine which kind best matches the dancers' movement.

But our work suggests that they aren't that interested in human music or prefer not to listen to it at all”.

Although my friends have introduced me to good music, not everything they listen to is good.

People can then listen in their car, while jogging, or wherever and whenever they please.

Listen to an elephant orchestra's rhythmic sounds and see the video that inspired our article.

Podcasting enables you to listen to audio files at the time and place of your choosing.

Having to listen to me more than once is punishment enough.

Listen carefully and you should be able to distinguish the different choruses, according to experts.

Several new devices let users record programs and listen to them whenever they want.

By measuring what people listen to rather than what they report, a radio rating system is finding new winners.

Live human beings then listen to those songs to verify that the files are infringing.

Respectable audiences turn up to listen to lectures on.

For a country in the throes of an economic crisis, a national holiday to listen to the bouzouki smacks of self.

Your speech was difficult to listen to because you lacked focus.

They don't have to listen to us, but they do have to listen to the government.

Nearby, in the shade of a neem tree, protesters with banners and flags listen as a.

With it splayed across your cranium, you can listen to music on the road without.

Click below to listen to selections from the discussion.

To his credit, he prefers to tramp the dust and listen to people.

Click here to listen to the full interview and to learn how to win a copy.

Will people be as willing to let a company listen in on.

If your child does not listen to your other instructions, she will not listen to your instruction to go potty.

Click to play, and listen to, our animated chart on.

Listen to beautiful poetry or create your own whimsical verse.

Each monitor is connected to a handset on which the visitor can listen to a running commentary.

Most of all, they need to listen carefully to their customers, paying close attention to what they do and don't want.

If you missed out this year, you can still listen to.

The authors of the report should take their own advice and listen to what employers say about college learning.

Listen carefully, and you can expect to hear more from him.

Congratulations and keep speaking up, people will listen.

But if you listen hard, there are people eager to help sketch the outlines.

And planning joint tours is easier when you know what other music an artist's fans listen to.

It is a joy to listen to unelectable clowns so out of touch with reality that they would not be elected in a real world.

Listen at left or download the mp3 to a portable player.

Listen to all your favorite online radio stations with this app.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

listen (ˈlɪs^ən)

—vb
1.	to concentrate on hearing something
2.	to take heed; pay attention: I told you many times but you wouldn't listen

[Old English hlysnan; related to Old High German lūstrēn]

'listener

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

listen

O.E. hlysnan "to listen," from P.Gmc. *khlusinon (cf. O.H.G. hlosen "to listen," Ger. lauschen "to listen"), from PIE base *kleu- "hearing, to hear" (cf. Skt. srnoti "hears," srosati "hears, obeys;" Avestan sraothra "ear;" M.Pers. srod "hearing, sound;" Lith. klausau "to hear," slove "splendor, honor;"

EXPAND

O.C.S. slusati "to hear," slava "fame, glory," slovo "word;" Gk. klyo "hear, be called," kleos "report, rumor, fame glory," kleio "make famous;" L. cluere "to hear oneself called, be spoken of;" O.Ir. ro-clui-nethar "hears," clunim "I hear," clu "fame, glory," cluada "ears;" Welsh clywaf "I hear;" O.E. hlud "loud," hleoðor "tone, tune;" O.H.G. hlut "sound;" Goth. hiluþ "listening, attention"). The -t- probably is by influence of O.E. hlystan (see list (v.2)). For vowel evolution, see bury.

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"That man's silence is wonderful to listen to."

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