white noise
Physics.Also called broad·band noise [brawd-band noiz] /ˈbrɔdˌbænd ˈnɔɪz/ . a noise signal with a uniform frequency spectrum over a wide range of frequencies.: Compare brown noise, pink noise.
Informal.Also called white sound [wahyt-sound, hwahyt]. /ˈwaɪt ˈsaʊnd, ˈʰwaɪt/. any steady, unobtrusive sound or pattern of sounds recorded from nature or produced electronically and used to mask unwanted noise or fill a discomforting silence: You can program the machine to play ocean waves, a rainforest, a thunderstorm, or whatever white noise helps you to relax.
Origin of white noise
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use white noise in a sentence
If necessary, use an eye mask, ear plugs, or white noise to help tune out disruptions.
For today's men, though, perhaps the key to modern manhood is more simple: Drown out the white noise.
They reduce the tension to the visual equivalent of white noise and encourage musing as much as monitoring.
You know how Bed Bath & Beyond sells those white noise machines that help you sleep?
The computers' fans set up an effective white-noise shield, but even so, I closed the door and moved in close to her.
Little Brother | Cory Doctorow
The white noise of the rain was too high, the rolling thunder too steady.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town | Cory DoctorowThe voice emerged from that white-noise roar of water humming and sloshing back and forth in her basket.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town | Cory DoctorowThe rush of water echoed off the cave walls, a white-noise shushing that sounded like skis cutting through powder.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town | Cory Doctorow
British Dictionary definitions for white noise
sound or electrical noise that has a relatively wide continuous range of frequencies of uniform intensity
noise containing all frequencies rising in level by six decibels every octave
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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