hear
|
|
- pronunciation:
- hir
- parts of speech:
- transitive verb, intransitive verb
- phrases:
- hear of
- features:
- Word Combinations (verb), Note, Homophone Note, Word Explorer, Grammatical Patterns
| part of speech: |
transitive verb |
| inflections: |
hears, hearing, heard |
| definition 1: |
to perceive with the ears.
He heard the siren and pulled the car over to the curb.I heard a dog barking in the middle of the night.[verb + smby/smth + present participle
]
She suddenly heard the door bang shut.[verb + smby/smth + bare infinitive
]
I've never heard that aria sung so beautifully as it was sung last night.[verb + smby/smth + past participle
]
- antonyms:
- miss
- similar words:
- perceive, sense
|
| definition 2: |
to learn from someone's reporting or telling.
I heard that he married his high school sweetheart and never went to college.[verb + (that) + clause
]
Did you hear the news about the earthquake?- synonyms:
- learn
- similar words:
- find out, receive, understand
|
| definition 3: |
to experience (a sound recording or other auditory event) in its entirety through the use of one's ears.
Did you hear the President's speech last night?I hadn't heard that song in years.Have you heard their latest recording? |
| definition 4: |
to listen carefully and absorb the full meaning of.
He asks me things, but he never really hears what I have to say.[verb + WH/whether/if + clause
]
- synonyms:
- listen to
- similar words:
- heed
|
| definition 5: |
to give formal audience to, esp. in a court of law.
The judge wouldn't hear our case.- similar words:
- adjudicate, consider, try
|
| related words: |
arbitrate, examine, get, judge, mark |
|
|
|
|
| part of speech: |
intransitive verb |
| definition 1: |
to have the ability to perceive sound.
His eyesight is still good, but he doesn't hear well these days. |
| definition 2: |
to receive information or some form of communication.
Have you heard about the plan to cut down these trees?He heard from his sister yesterday and she said their mother had had a bad fall.- similar words:
- learn, speak with, talk to
|
|
|
| phrase: |
hear of |
| derivation: |
hearer (n.) |
hear or listen?
We use
hear when we are talking about the action of our ears as they receive sound. If a sound is loud enough and our ears can function, then we
hear it. We use
listen when we decide to hear something and then pay attention to it. But there is another meaning of
hear, which is
to experience something by using your ears. This meaning of
hear may seem similar to the meaning of
listen and can be confusing. When you
listen to something, you are simply paying attention to the sounds that come to your ears, but when you
hear something (in this meaning) you get knowledge and experience of a whole event, such as a song, a concert, a recording. If you've
heard something, you know it and you can now talk about it.
Compare:
- We can hear our neighbor's music in our apartment.
- Come and listen to this song!
- I can hear their conversation, but I'm not listening to it.
- I never listen to the weather report.
- We went to the theater to hear a concert.
Are you looking for the word
here (in this place)?
Hear and
here sound alike but have different meanings.