What's the difference between croon and hum?

Croon


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
  • (v. i.) To hum or sing in a low tone; to murmur softly.
  • (v. t.) To sing in a low tone, as if to one's self; to hum.
  • (v. t.) To soothe by singing softly.
  • (n.) A low, continued moan; a murmur.
  • (n.) A low singing; a plain, artless melody.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Cue that familiar gloating refrain from Stoke fans when Arsenal are in town: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” they crooned.
  • (2) "Never gonna say goodbye," he crooned in his surprisingly basso voice - and who knew how right he was.
  • (3) You're innocently browsing an apparently useful website and see a link to something else that might be of interest, but when you click through to that destination you instead find yourself confronted with Astley's boyish smile , his manly croon, his awkward 1987 dance-moves.
  • (4) The two meet at the weekend in their world heavyweight title bout in Düsseldorf and Fury may consider himself already ahead on points after crooning: “You are the one with all the glory, I’m the one with all the strength,” to the holder of the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts.
  • (5) In 2014, he even appeared in a fashion ad himself, crooning seductively to the model Arizona Muse for Louis Vuitton .
  • (6) Italians were subjected to a media diet of parading models and Berlusconi crooning, with his political opponents sidelined in comparison.
  • (7) But, of course, that catchy La La Land song City of Stars made the title impossible to read without mentally crooning like Ryan Gosling.
  • (8) I don't care if we're simply waiting for The X Factor results to see if the nation has finally cauterized the crooning urinary tract infection that is Frankie Cocozza.
  • (9) Malcolm McDowell lookalike and honey-larynxed frontman Ian croons his way through these late 80's teen time love anthems.
  • (10) When Jonathon Porritt – official government green adviser – this week left his Whitehall office after nine years trying to crash the gears of the machine of state, his staff of 60 in the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) didn't just say cheerio; they hired an old ship on the Thames, formed a blues band and sang him out to a Muddy Waters tune: For nine long years this green guru reigned Watching over Whitehall, his eye keenly trained Tree-hugger-in-chief or simply JP However you know him you should start to see He's a true ninja of sustainability Porritt stood to one side of the crooning SDC backing singers, delighted but emotional at his send off.
  • (11) You won’t find any swing or crooning standards here: just Missy, Kanye, Biggie and Foxy, while some rather good MCs-in-training keep pace on the stage.
  • (12) She'd snarl like an angry Dylan or croon with tenderness, punctuating Lenny Kaye's guitar work with murmured incantations.
  • (13) His favourite recent film is Lost in Translation, in which Bill Murray shows his own 50-quid tendencies by crooning a karaoke version of the Roxy Music song More Than This.
  • (14) According to Oliver Alexander, they also sang together: "Both made a foray into the German pop charts in 1974 as "The Kremers", crooning romantically about the 'girl of my dream'."
  • (15) After rallying for his 21st professional win, Fury wrested the mic from an in-ring interviewer and crooned country singer Ricky Van Shelton’s Keep it Between the Lines to the bewildered New York city crowd.
  • (16) "It's been a long time coming," a soul singer crooned, "but change is going to come!"
  • (17) As he has said elsewhere: "For my generation in the 70s, [Hall] was one of the few people of colour we saw on television who wasn't crooning, dancing or running.
  • (18) As the chancellor huskily crooned national living wage , uncontrollable tidal waves of ecstasy swept through the Tories.
  • (19) "London is the place for me," he crooned, "London, this lovely city …" He had yet to experience smog-bound austerity Brixton, whose labour exchange was first port of call for many of Kitchener's 500 fellow travellers.
  • (20) One can't help but walk away from Paisley's crooning "I'm just a white man comin' to you from a south land" and LL's proclamations that "it's real, it's real, it's truth" without feeling they are earnest.

Hum


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make a low, prolonged sound, like that of a bee in flight; to drone; to murmur; to buzz; as, a top hums.
  • (v. i.) To make a nasal sound, like that of the letter m prolonged, without opening the mouth, or articulating; to mumble in monotonous undertone; to drone.
  • (v. i.) To make an inarticulate sound, like h'm, through the nose in the process of speaking, from embarrassment or a affectation; to hem.
  • (v. i.) To express satisfaction by a humming noise.
  • (v. i.) To have the sensation of a humming noise; as, my head hums, -- a pathological condition.
  • (v. t.) To sing with shut mouth; to murmur without articulation; to mumble; as, to hum a tune.
  • (v. t.) To express satisfaction with by humming.
  • (v. t.) To flatter by approving; to cajole; to impose on; to humbug.
  • (n.) A low monotonous noise, as of bees in flight, of a swiftly revolving top, of a wheel, or the like; a drone; a buzz.
  • (n.) Any inarticulate and buzzing sound
  • (n.) The confused noise of a crowd or of machinery, etc., heard at a distance; as, the hum of industry.
  • (n.) A buzz or murmur, as of approbation.
  • (n.) An imposition or hoax.
  • (interj.) An inarticulate nasal sound or murmur, like h'm, uttered by a speaker in pause from embarrassment, affectation, etc.
  • (interj.) A kind of strong drink formerly used.
  • (interj.) Ahem; hem; an inarticulate sound uttered in a pause of speech implying doubt and deliberation.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As he sits in Athens wondering when the International Monetary Fund is going to deliver another bailout, George Papandreou might be tempted to hum a few lines of Tired of Waiting for You.
  • (2) Although the cranes swing, much of the new living zones now being created range from the ho-hum to the outright catastrophic.
  • (3) Mononuclear cells were fractionated from human cord blood by affinity chromatography on immobilized peanut agglutinin, as previously described (Rosenberg et al., Hum Immunol 7:67, 1983).
  • (4) Managers scurry back and forth across the Atlantic with advance copies handcuffed to their wrists, critics are required to sign contracts promising that they will not so much as hum the contents to their nearest and dearest, and the music press acts as if the world is about to witness the most significant release since Nelson Mandela's.
  • (5) He shook his head from side to side, whispering or humming the same three-note tune.
  • (6) The apolipoprotein E3-Leiden variant has been shown to be associated with familial dysbetalipoproteinemia (FD) in a dominant manner (Havekes et al., Hum Genet 1986;73:157-163).
  • (7) The politics of football have long been accompanied by a background hum of corruption claims, but in recent times it has become a cacophony.
  • (8) Selling its own phone would mean it could make itself the background hum of many peoples' lives everywhere – and show adverts and collect data on its own terms.
  • (9) His father, who was fond of humming the popular ballad Keep Right on to the End of the Road, lost his job in the great depression of the early 1930s.
  • (10) Hollow-eyed children beg outside restaurants and cafes that hum with the chatter of shisha-smoking customers.
  • (11) Her hums on early awards buzz Speaking of Oscar contenders, it will be fascinating to see how Spike Jonze's latest movie pans out.
  • (12) That robs astronomy of one of its key recruiting tools: the chance to plant young scientists under the dish and let its hum capture their imagination.
  • (13) Four hours from the Zurich madhouse, Uefa’s base on the shores of Lake Geneva in Nyon hums with calm purpose.
  • (14) He made politics great again in the sense of getting people to care instead of allowing it to hum softly in the background.
  • (15) I am not sure that a lucrative career in rape gags is more helpful than a failed one, but the rape hum seems eternal.
  • (16) "I wouldn't say this agreement was entirely ho-hum but it does not address the big ticket issues.
  • (17) And I think Stephen hummed and hah-ed in an embarrassed fashion.
  • (18) humming, whistling) for atonal melody, but that non-musicians could not use any effective strategies for melody coding.
  • (19) At the moment the noise is like a city humming away.
  • (20) Without the faintest idea what I was humming along to, my mother left me to my obsession with nothing more than a shrug.

Words possibly related to "croon"

Words possibly related to "hum"