listen Hear it!

listen Definition

lis·ten (lis′ən)

intransitive verb

  1. to make a conscious effort to hear; attend closely, so as to hear
  2. to pay close attention; take advice

Etymology: ME listnen, felt as freq. of listen (see list) < OE hlysnan (akin to MHG lüsenen)

transitive verb

Archaic to pay attention to by listening; hear

noun

the act of listening

listen Related Forms

lis′·tener noun

listen Idioms

listen in

☆
  1. to listen to the conversation of others; esp., to eavesdrop
  2. to listen to a broadcast

listen Synonyms

listen

v.

  1. To endeavor to hear

    attend, keep one's ears open, be attentive, listen in, pick up, overhear, give attention to, give a hearing to, give ear, hearken, hark, listen to, pay attention, give attention, hear, monitor, tune in*, give ear to*, incline an ear to*, not miss a trick*, lend an ear*, strain one's ears*, prick up one's ears*, cock one's ears*.

    Antonyms be deaf to, turn a deaf ear to, ignore.

  2. To receive advice cordially

    heed, receive, take advice, take under advisement, welcome, accept, entertain, admit, take into consideration, adopt, hear out*.

    Antonyms discard*, scorn*, refuse.

listen Usage Examples

Object

  • comprehension: Vandergrift ( 1999 ) maintains that listening comprehension plays a key role in facilitating language learning and that focusing on it offers many advantages.
  • ear: Our trained, friendly staff provides support and encouragement to families, offering a listening ear and guidance where needed.
  • pleasure: Sounds are gushed out from disks with a high standard of abstractionism, which gives me a listening pleasure.
  • skill: Access to some of these will encourage listening skills.
  • booth: There are video-tape facilities and listening booths for recorded music.
  • device: Dating from 1915 onward, they were experimental listening devices to give advance warning of enemy aircraft.

Preposition: on

port: The example assumes a server is listening on TCP port 2000 of the specified host.

Adjective complement

online: The update is also available for you to listen online.

Modifying Another Word

  • carefully: Listen carefully to the words you use, not to what you think you are saying.
  • intently: Delegates listen intently to the presentations in the conference room.
  • attentively: The doctors would never know what she saw when she stared into space or what she heard when she appeared to be listening attentively.

Followed by an intransitive particle

out: I used to listen out for a bird which had picked up on one of the local kid's crazy whistle.

Used with why or when

when: We might have a voice now but we still need the government to listen when that voice speaks.

Infinitive complement

  • pop: We waited and listened to pop music on the car radio.
  • live: Whilst getting to know the people with whom they live, they listened to live music and took part in the many compelling activities.
  • appreciate: As I stated, this record takes a few listens to fully appreciate its contents, and before its enormity hits you.

Preposition: for

  • while: One or two 5 abc channel news small birds listened attentively for a while, then started in to help her out.
  • connection: For example, FTP clients acquire server sockets and listen there for reverse connections from the server.
  • sound: Here we waited anxiously for a few minutes, listening for sounds of water gushing in through overlooked holes.
  • noise: Start the engine up, listen for engine noise and watch for blue smoke from the exhaust.