Library / English Dictionary

HISSING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval)

Example:

the performers could not be heard over the hissing of the audience

Synonyms:

fizzle; hiss; hissing; hushing; sibilation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("hissing" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

hiss (show displeasure, as after a performance or speech)

hiss (make a sharp hissing sound, as if to show disapproval)

hiss (express or utter with a hiss)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

-ing form of the verb hiss

Credits

 Context examples: 

The wood had been soaked in oil, for in an instant it was ablaze, and a long, hissing, yellow flame licked over the heads of the defenders, and drove them further up to the first floor of the keep.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)