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Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday May 1, 2001
sotto voce \SAH-toh-VOH-chee\, adverb or adjective:
1. Spoken low or in an undertone, as not to be overheard.
2. (Music) In very soft tones. Used chiefly as a direction.
Behind the scenes, however, were sotto voce grumblings that Kohl was perhaps hanging on too long and that the party might be better off if he were to step aside and hand the candidacy to popular majority leader Wolfgang Schauble.
-- Jordan Bonfante, "The Challenger", Time, March 16, 1998
Say it sotto voce, they say, knowing full well that to shout about it would invite ridicule.
-- Julian Muscat, "Classic case for a change of course", Times (London), April 24, 2001
Inside the room, as she closed the door, the man winked at her: "I'm from the OSS," he said sotto voce. "I'm checking your room for 'bugs.'"
-- Elizabeth P. McIntosh, Sisterhood of Spies
Occasionally, to keep us amused, he mouthed bits at us: but sotto voce, in case there was a real Dutchman within earshot.
-- John Bayley, The Red Hat
Sotto voce is from the Italian: sotto, "under" and voce, "voice."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for sotto voce
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