What's the difference between hiss and whisper?

Hiss


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To make with the mouth a prolonged sound like that of the letter s, by driving the breath between the tongue and the teeth; to make with the mouth a sound like that made by a goose or a snake when angered; esp., to make such a sound as an expression of hatred, passion, or disapproval.
  • (v. i.) To make a similar noise by any means; to pass with a sibilant sound; as, the arrow hissed as it flew.
  • (v. t.) To condemn or express contempt for by hissing.
  • (v. t.) To utter with a hissing sound.
  • (n.) A prolonged sound like that letter s, made by forcing out the breath between the tongue and teeth, esp. as a token of disapprobation or contempt.
  • (n.) Any sound resembling that above described
  • (n.) The noise made by a serpent.
  • (n.) The note of a goose when irritated.
  • (n.) The noise made by steam escaping through a narrow orifice, or by water falling on a hot stove.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) There is the sound of engines hissing and crackling, which have been mixed to seem as near to the ear as the camera was to the cars; there is a mostly unnoticeable rustle of leaves in the trees; periodically, so faintly that almost no one would register it consciously, there is the sound of a car rolling through an intersection a block or two over, off camera; a dog barks somewhere far away.
  • (2) When Trump described her father as a “tremendous champion of supporting families”, there were boos and hisses.
  • (3) Even if we have to wait in line for a hissing coffee machine.
  • (4) Feline affective defense behavior, characterized mainly by autonomic arousal, ear retraction, growling, hissing and paw striking, was elicited by electrical stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH).
  • (5) Ragged-red fibers with abnormal mitochondria, cerebral spongiosis mostly involving white matter, perimacular pigmentary retinopathy and scattered myocardial fibrosis interrupting the Hiss'bundle were found.
  • (6) Mutants that require histidine due to an altered structural gene for the histidyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase (hisS) have been isolated by a general selection for histidine-requiring strains in which the mutation producing histidine auxotrophy is unlinked to the histidine operon.
  • (7) If that happens, Osborne will get the blame as the hissing becomes deafening.
  • (8) Other factors hiss their message more perniciously.
  • (9) Sure, the season’s story, which focuses on Vanessa Ives’s struggle to decode the “memoirs of the devil” and fight a hissing viper pit of Lucifer’s witches, may be pure pulp burlesque, but that’s just the first layer of Penny Dreadful’s charm.
  • (10) Supporters of the Tunisian national football team whistle and hiss at the French national anthem before the match.
  • (11) Hissing and directed attack were selected for threshold determination.
  • (12) The earphones were with Eva, 11, who was listening to the soundtrack of Glee at a loud enough level to produce that particularly annoying mixture of hiss and thud.
  • (13) For the 30 years I have followed Spurs to away games – in pubs, around tube stations, on the streets around the ground and within Stamford Bridge itself, the venom, ignorance and breathtaking casualness of Chelsea fans’ references to Jews, Auschwitz, the Holocaust and foreskins, often accompanied by a hissing simulation of gas chambers, is simply shocking – not least because it goes unchallenged by police, stewards or the club itself, bar a token reference furtively hidden away in the match-day programme.
  • (14) Most tourists satisfy themselves with a quick drive around the crater rim, stopping for photos at the viewing points, but if you really want to smell the sulphur, feel the heat of the lava and hear the hissing of the steam vents, a bike tour is perfect.
  • (15) Arthur had a hapless sidekick, Chester Drawers, who he’d humiliate roundly in front of an audience, then come off stage and double down on by hissing something like: “I’ve seen a monkey take a pie better than that!” Will May’s government soon be forced to undergo an emergency Borisectomy?
  • (16) The injection of the D1-selective antagonist SCH 23390 (0.3 nmol), however, did not inhibit apomorphine-induced facilitation of hissing.
  • (17) The somatic and autonomic displays which accompanied defensive behavior were similar between stimuli, consisting of mydriasis, piloerection, growling, hissing and paw strikes.
  • (18) (“He took the cork out and spilled a little on the wooden plank of the pier; it hissed like steam.”) Only later in the last century did the crime begin to be associated with the developing rather than the developed rather than the developed world, as a function of male oppression and feudalism, rather than the green-eyed cruelty of richer societies.
  • (19) That said, as we make our way up the stairs he lets out a hiss of air.
  • (20) Air hissed out, leading to normalisation of arterial and venous pressures.

Whisper


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To speak softly, or under the breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration in the larynx which gives sonorous, or vocal, sound. See Whisper, n.
  • (n.) To make a low, sibilant sound or noise.
  • (n.) To speak with suspicion, or timorous caution; to converse in whispers, as in secret plotting.
  • (v. t.) To utter in a low and nonvocal tone; to say under the breath; hence, to mention privately and confidentially, or in a whisper.
  • (v. t.) To address in a whisper, or low voice.
  • (v. t.) To prompt secretly or cautiously; to inform privately.
  • (n.) A low, soft, sibilant voice or utterance, which can be heard only by those near at hand; voice or utterance that employs only breath sound without tone, friction against the edges of the vocal cords and arytenoid cartilages taking the place of the vibration of the cords that produces tone; sometimes, in a limited sense, the sound produced by such friction as distinguished from breath sound made by friction against parts of the mouth. See Voice, n., 2, and Guide to Pronunciation, // 5, 153, 154.
  • (n.) A cautious or timorous speech.
  • (n.) Something communicated in secret or by whispering; a suggestion or insinuation.
  • (n.) A low, sibilant sound.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) No changes for either side, but Zinedine Zidane has been whispering into Cristiano Ronaldo's ear as he retakes the pitch.
  • (2) This group includes patients with adductor involvement (phonatory dystonia, recurrent laryngeal nerve section failure, respiratory dystonia) and those with abductor involvement (whispering dystonia).
  • (3) Wide-eyed, tentative and much given to confidences – her voice falls to an eager whisper when she's really dishing – she seems far younger than her years.
  • (4) Owing to ill health that she'd rather remained a private matter, Yaqoob stepped down as a Birmingham councillor last year, but there are now whispers about her possible arrival in the House of Commons.
  • (5) Just a whisper between us, its about time some of the old guard got a hoot under their perch.
  • (6) Read more Like everyone on the Tour, Sharapova will have heard locker-room whispers of skulduggery, real or imagined.
  • (7) He survived, and The Horse Whisperer became the stuff of literary legend, one of the bestselling books of all time and a Hollywood movie starring Robert Redford.
  • (8) Yet the whole thing was sly and subversive, for it whispered, see, see what you have been missing.
  • (9) They whisper encouragement to each other, to gee themselves up.
  • (10) The only sound was the breeze whispering to the grass: splendour in solitude.
  • (11) "He must go for the sake of Libya," is a view expressed in whispers.
  • (12) He shook his head from side to side, whispering or humming the same three-note tune.
  • (13) And, whisper it, but I don’t even think his ideas are that radical!” Obviously the huge battleground, despite all these gains and every fresh poll, is middle England.
  • (14) A month or so ago a whispering campaign, which at one point appeared to emanate from senior figures in Downing Street, suggested that Crosby had placed the usually sunny David Cameron into a straitjacket emblazoned with the words “long-term economic plan”, which he found frustrating.
  • (15) After months of whisperings, the Post confirmed the news in a tweet Tuesday morning .
  • (16) Or, whisper it, even spent on new artists who could attract an audience back to music, an audience bored by the quick return, integrity-free pop designed to separate pre-teens from their pocket money.
  • (17) Like Jay and Hill, they have taken conventional wisdom and whispered a quick apology in its left ear before hitting it hard where it hurts.
  • (18) And it is whispered that Farah’s wife Tania plays a increasingly dominant role in guiding her husband’s career too.
  • (19) I half expected it to end with the Houser brothers dressed as Papa Lazarou from League of Gentlemen staring into the camera and whispering seductively, "you all live in Los Santos now".
  • (20) And then he hands over to Marc Bolland ( "well done, well done" someone whispers as Swannell takes his seat ).