Sounds

Question 1

hush

Answer 1

• A hush fell over the room as the bride walked in.
• There was a deathly hush (=complete silence) after the announcement.
• After he had spoken, a deathly silence/hush fell on the room.

Question 2

faint or low noise

Answer 2

A slight noise that you cannot hear well may be described as faint or low:

• There’s a faint hissing noise coming from behind the TV.
• They spoke in low voices and I couldn’t hear what they were saying? (Of course, ‘low’ used to describe a voice can also mean ‘near the bottom of a range of sounds’.)

Question 3

muffled

Answer 3

A sound that is quiet and not clear may be described as muffled:

• I could hear muffled voices next door, but I couldn’t make out any words.

Question 4

muted noise

Answer 4

A muted noise, meanwhile, is more quiet than you would expect, sometimes suggesting a lack of enthusiasm:

• The applause, when it came, was muted.

Question 5

din or racket (informal) noise

Answer 5

A loud noise that is unpleasant and continues for a while may be called a din or a (informal) racket:

• They were making such a racket outside that I couldn’t sleep.
• I had to shout to make myself heard above the din.

Racket : informal an unpleasant loud continuous noise:

Question 6

commotion

Answer 6

A commotion is a continuous, loud noise that suggests confusion or arguments:

• What was all the commotion about next door?

Question 7

hubbub

Answer 7

A hubbub is similar and suggests the noise of people talking excitedly:

• It was hard to hear what anyone was saying in the general hubbub.

A loud noise, especially caused by a lot of people all talking at the same time:

• I could hardly hear myself speak above all the hubbub in the bar.

Question 8

clatter

Answer 8

A continuous loud noise made by hard objects hitting each other is sometimes called a clatter:

• The clatter coming from the kitchen made conversation almost impossible.
• the clatter of dishes in the kitchen

Question 9

can’t hear yourself think:

Answer 9

• There was so much noise in the classroom that I could hardly hear myself think.
• Kids, can you stop shouting, please? I can’t hear myself think!

Question 10

blaring (out) or being at full blast

Answer 10

A radio/television/hi-fi, etc. that is extremely loud is sometimes described as blaring (out) or being at full blast:

• My granddad had the television on at full blast.
• Music was blaring out from speakers at the side of the pool.
• The radio was blaring (out) martial music.

Question 11

could have heard a pin drop

Answer 11

To describe a place or a situation that was completely quiet, with no one speaking, you might say you could have heard a pin drop:

• We all stood in stunned silence. You could have heard a pin drop.

Something that you say in order to describe a situation where there was complete silence, especially because people were very interested or very surprised by what was happening:

• Margaret’s ex-husband turned up at the wedding. Honestly, you could have heard a pin drop.